


Playing Adult

by HonestPassion13



Category: Vampire Academy & Related Fandoms, Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: Age Reversal, Alternate Universe - Human, College Girl/High School Boy, Dirty Romantic Comedy, F/M, Loss of Virginity, Mutual Masturbation, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2020-08-19 08:10:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 86,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20206510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HonestPassion13/pseuds/HonestPassion13
Summary: High school senior Dimitri Belikov has just discovered his father's exciting new neighbor during his required weekend visitation - a beautiful college girl trying to sow her wild oats over the summer.One problem: She doesn't know he's not in college, too.And he's not about to tell her.AH. Very OOC. Character age reversal.Contains mature sexual content.





	1. New Neighbors

“I’ll get it,” I told Randall as I went to answer the door. Not like that bastard would get up to get it himself, anyways. If it weren’t for the fact that my Grandma Ivashkov was far too nice of a lady to call her that, I’d say that my dad was a son of a bitch. I hope to God that no one ever thinks that about my mama, Olena Belikova, as a result of me.

It was maybe the hottest day of late May I’d ever experienced. The summer would only get hotter from here and the asshole still couldn’t spring for air conditioning. No matter, I had plenty of tank tops, shorts, and wore lots of deodorant and all I’d done all day so far was sit and study. Plus, until I could find myself the right girl, I’d be taking a lot of showers, _ if you get what I’m saying_. 

Mama had moved here to the U.S. from Russia when I was young, hoping that she could somehow make things with Randall work out. I was eight, at the time, and didn’t speak a word of English. My accent’s still pretty thick, from what my friends tell me, but at this point, I speak more English than Russian - and probably know more of the ‘colorful’ words in English than Russian.

I opened the door, wiping the sweat off of my brow, and wished I’d taken a minute to look in the mirror before opening it up. Standing there in front of me was an absolute perfect ten: tanned skin ... long, glossy, not-quite-black, silky hair that I’d love to run my hands through ... full, pouty, glossy pink lips that I’d love to have against my own - or _ elsewhere _ \- ... exotic eyes so dark it was hard to see her pupils that were fringed in soft, long, black eyelashes … slim waist ... tight muscular thighs ... luscious full breasts that I could just swear were hardening under my gaze. I was definitely going to have to shower after this. She was wearing a tight red tank top with spaghetti straps - _ no bra straps_, I noted - and these tiny little black short shorts that didn’t leave much to the imagination. I think I was in love. I stood there gawking at this beauty for a long moment. Unbelievably, it appeared that she was staring at me, too.

After another sixty seconds or so, I noticed that a taller blonde girl had walked up behind her at some point during our glances. “Hi,” the blonde said, with a genuine smile, “I’m Lissa, and this,” she elbowed the beautiful brunette, “is Rose. We’re your new neighbors.”

“Hi,” Rose said, smiling at me, extending her hand. As I grasped it, her soft hand clung to mine. Her skin felt so good that I could practically feel my cock hardening at the thought of the feel of that hand clasped around me.

“I’m Dimitri,” I told her, locking eyes with Rose’s stunning gaze, “I’m afraid to say that I only live here on weekends. This is my dad’s house. Are you two sisters? You don’t really look anything alike.”

Rose gave a little laugh that almost sounded nervous, “No. Liss and I are best friends, but we’re not related. We’re just sharing a house together over the summer. We wanted to be closer to the lake. Where do you live the rest of the week?”

Oh shit, she’s older than I thought she was. Do I come clean and say that I’m in high school? That I live with my mother, grandmother, _ and _all my sisters and their kids? How to play this …

It was only now that I realized I hadn’t yet let go of her hand. I dropped it, but Rose kept making eye contact with me. “I live in Springfield and go to school there.” 

Why did I feel like her eyes were seering me from the inside out? I licked my lips, thinking of kissing her. 

“Fun,” said Rose, “You must go to the community college out there! I almost chose to go there when I was deciding where to go to school. What are you planning to get your degree in?”

Thank goodness she didn’t ask me what my major is. I haven’t had to outright lie to her yet. “I haven’t really decided yet, actually.”

“Ah, underclassman,” Rose snickered, “I couldn’t help but notice your accent. Where’re you from?”

“Russia, actually. But I’ve lived in the U.S. since I was eight years old.”

“Nice,” said Rose, “I like your accent, Comrade.” Did she just wink at me? I must be dreaming.

“Well,” said the blonde - Lissa -, “we have to finish moving our furniture inside the house, but we just wanted to say ‘hello’ to all of the neighbors.” Lissa grabbed Rose by the arm and turned to walk away.

“Wait!” I blurted out. I couldn’t let this vision out of my sight.

Both girls turned around, looking at me. I looked over at the rented moving truck. The girls didn’t appear to have anyone else helping them move in. Rose had some definite muscle tone - man, I’d like to get those thighs wrapped around me -, but she was at least a foot shorter than me and just wasn’t built to bench press furniture. Lissa was closer to my height, but she was maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet. I inwardly cursed myself under my breath and then asked, “Could you use some help carrying things?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have absolutely no idea when I’m going to have time to work on this story (too many irons in the fire right now), but I wanted to jot this down while it was fresh in my mind. I'm going to keep it to shorter chapters for now so that I can keep updates going, but it might be a long while before you see any regularity. I’ll try to earn the ‘M’ rating more in the second or third chapter.


	2. My Newest Nemesis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized that last chapter I forgot the obligatory all-important disclaimers.  
If you haven’t already realized, I didn’t create these characters and places. Dimitri, Rose, Lissa, Christian, St. Vladimir’s, and all of the other stuff are property of the lovely and talented Richelle Mead. As one of the other fan fiction authors so eloquently put it, ‘I just make them do stuff’.  
If you’re a kid, wait until you’re older to read this crap, because HonestPassion13 doesn’t want a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor on her permanent record.

After I told Randall I’d be next door, I went over and started lifting heavy furniture as fast as I could, anxious to be away from him - and even more anxious to be with Rose. It was Saturday afternoon and I had another day and a half before I had to be back ‘home’ with the rest of my family. My sisters were all too old to be forced to have visitation, so I was the only one that had to be here. If I was honest, I doubted Randall would even check to see if I returned back to his house that evening; he just wanted something else he could take from my mama in the divorce proceedings. I still had two more weeks of school, but my homework was done weeks in advance, so between that and my father’s just not caring, I was confident I could stay as long as the girls needed me.

I’d been moving furniture with Rose and Lissa for over an hour. It’d given us a great opportunity to talk. Well, really, Rose did most of the talking and I just listened.

She was twenty-four and finishing up her last year of college. It had taken her a few extra years to get through both high school and college. That was partially because Rose had a rebellious streak - which I found fascinating. It was also because Rose and Lissa ran away for a few years during high school to get away from Lissa’s uncle, who Rose described as, “creepy pervert scum. Thankfully, he’s in prison now for what he did and he’ll never do it to anyone else.” I was new enough of an acquaintance that I didn’t pry for details, but Rose provided, “I’d tell you more, Comrade, but it’s not my story to tell.”

Lissa was in medical school, but Rose was studying to become a social worker, wanting to fight for those who couldn’t fight for themselves. I was finding out that this beautiful woman I was just getting to know, in addition to being funny and daring, was opinionated, kind, and fierce - with a bit of a wild streak that just made her so irresistible. 

There’d never been a woman more perfect for me. I was done for.

Lissa and Rose’s house had air conditioning, but with all of the heavy lifting and constant trips out to the moving truck, I was covered in sweat.

“Comrade,” Rose told me, “I think we’ve got all the big furniture inside now. Why don’t you help me with these dresser drawers and then we can go inside and have a cold drink?”

I grabbed the first drawer that I saw and started to carry it towards the house. “Where does this one go?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s Rose’s,” Lissa replied, “Can you take it to her room?”

The drawer was actually pretty large, but I began to realize as I was carrying it that the contents were mostly satin and lace. As I realized I was in the hallway alone, I let my eyes sweep over the contents: satin thongs, see-through lace bustiers, garter belts, and stockings. I tried to keep from picturing Rose in those things, knowing it’d make my pants tent in a painfully obvious way, but I was still enjoying the mental imagery I knew I’d keep with me for later. 

Then, I noticed _ it _. My newest nemesis. There, in the drawer, was something flesh-colored, plasticy, and shaped like a penis. 

Rose’s sex toy. 

I didn’t know if I should be jealous of where it had been, afraid that I wouldn’t fit in the same places it had gone, or proud of my own size. The object that Rose - theoretically - used to pleasure herself regularly was definitely several sizes smaller than my own manhood was. Would she enjoy my size? Would it astound her? Could I make her writhe and scream, impaled on my length as she let it plunge into her?

Suddenly, an onslaught of images swirled through my mind, imagining Rose laying naked and using this on herself, imagining her awe at seeing me after she was used to this, watching her come undone while I was buried inside her, making her scream with pleasure. I couldn’t possibly keep the erection at bay now. Thinking of Rose like this was giving me material I’d be using in the shower for days to come - if not weeks!

As I continued to carry the drawer up the stairs, it occurred to me: I was dealing with a girl in an entirely different class from those I’d dealt with before. No, not a girl; a woman. Unlike me, Rose was clearly no virgin. Any intimacy with her would not be her first time. She was out of my league. Or at least, she was if she knew I was still in high school. So maybe she wouldn’t know.

As I arrived in Rose’s room, I looked around. Rose was downstairs in the living room. For a crazed moment, I thought I should investigate the toy. I wondered if it would smell like her luscious little honey pot. Or _ taste _like her. I shook my head to clear my thoughts of this temporary insanity, laughing to myself at the idea of what Rose would do if she were to walk in and see me licking it.

“Rose, could you please come tell me what you’d like me to do with this?” I called out, down the stairs. 

“I’ll be right there, Dimitri,” Rose said.

Another crazed thought entered my brain as I thought that she might walk in and see the bulge in my pants and think that was what I was asking about. For a frenzied second, my shaft shot even harder as I pictured what I wished that would be like, but then I shuddered to think her actual response to that would be. I set the drawer down on the floor and adjusted myself to hide it. 

As the drawer settled, the contents shifted, making the toy less obvious. When Rose walked in a moment later, she gasped as she saw the drawer in front of me. “Where did you want this?” I asked her, pointing to the drawer.

She immediately moved over to the drawer and hastily threw a few more silky items over the corner where the toy was. “I’ll take it from here,” she said, shoving the drawer into her closet.

Was it my imagination or was she slightly breathless? Did this shock her? Was she embarrassed?

“What should I do now?” I asked her.

Rose and I stood there staring at each other for another moment. Glistening drops of sweat dripped down the side of Rose’s neck. She had worn her hair up and the loose pieces had curled under from the sweat. I watched as a bead of sweat dripped down her neck and slid into the valley between her breasts. Portions of her top were visibly wet, making her nipples stand out, jutting against the damp fabric now that we were in the air conditioning. 

As I looked at Rose’s supple lips, she let her tongue sweep out and licked them. I couldn’t help but do the same as I stared at them and imagined my own mouth on hers.

It was a good thing I was already hard and had hidden my arousal. I wouldn’t be able to hide this. I secretly wondered how much more my cock could ache for being so turned on. All I could think about was what it might take to get to sink it inside her.

“Let’s get those last few drawers in and then maybe it’s time for that drink,” Rose said at last, breaking the tension. I nodded and we headed back down the stairs. 

\--=o0/&\0o=-

“That’s the last of it,” Rose said, walking down the stairs toward the kitchen. Somehow, Lissa had disappeared. I didn’t mind. “What’s your poison, Comrade?”

I tried to be witty without giving her too clear an idea of just how young I was and replied, “I don’t drink poison.” 

I earned a smile from Rose with that. Breathtaking.

“I have some vodka and ice in the freezer, some O.J. in the fridge, and some warm beer. I can make a mean screwdriver. Or maybe you’re just a straight-up vodka man? Or I can put ice in the beer, but I guess that’d be a little strange - wouldn’t it?” 

I thought quick. “Maybe I shouldn’t drink around a woman I’ve just met,” I told her. _ Maybe I shouldn’t drink if I’m about to go home to Randall and have him find out I was drinking underage, since he’d probably beat me within an inch of my life _. “How about just the orange juice?”

Rose smirked at me as she began to pull out the orange juice and some disposable paper cups. “Suit yourself, mister tight-ass. If you ask me, you’ve earned the chance to let your hair down a little with all the work you did. It must be nice to be so godlike that you’re able to lift a seven foot couch all by yourself like that.” Rose tapped a finger against her jaw as she added, “Still, it would be fun to get you to loosen up a little.”

A second later, she had poured a screwdriver for herself and an orange juice for me, handing me my cup and heading to the living room, taking a seat in the center of the couch. I sat beside her, grateful that she didn’t leave me a choice about sitting next to her.

“Speaking of letting your hair down,” she said as she unfastened hers and let the dark curls cascade down her shoulders.

A second later, Rose had her hands around my neck and was freeing my own hair from its tie. It’d been pulled into a ponytail since she met me several hours ago and I had forgotten that I had even tied it off. Feeling her fingers run through my hair, her arms around my neck, I could almost imagine this beautiful woman was my girlfriend. I leaned towards her face, tentatively angling in towards her. I could almost feel her breath on my lips. I was looking into her eyes.

“Are you getting hungry? Maybe we should order a pizza. Would you like to watch a movie while we eat?” Rose asked, pulling her hands away and turning to find her cell phone and the remote to the TV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, that feels like a more solid ‘M’ rating than that first chapter did, though I’m sure to have more ‘M’ content in chapters to follow. What do you think of my take on Dimitri as a horny teenager? What do you think Rose is thinking of our boy at this point in the story? Why do you think she’d pulled away at the last second there when he was about to kiss her?


	3. Almost sounds like a date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vampire Academy and all of its characters and settings belong to the devastatingly beautiful, wealthy, creative, and insanely talented Richelle Mead. I think the woman must’ve made some sort of deal with the devil to have so much going for her. Seriously.  
Maybe not too much in this particular chapter, but grown-up stuff is in this story. It’s not for kids. If you’re underage, don’t read it.

“Are you getting hungry? Maybe we should order a pizza. Would you like to watch a movie while we eat?” Rose asked, pulling her hands away and turning to find her cell phone and the remote to the TV.

I was almost afraid that Rose would be sending me home to eat. The TV was sitting haphazardly on the edge of a bookcase against the wall at one end of the couch. Getting it positioned right on the wall would be tedious and difficult and could take almost an hour, but it seemed as good a reason as any to stick around. “I could probably carry some more of the smaller boxes in,” I offered, “Or maybe help you mount the TV on the wall?”

“Easy, Comrade,” Rose told me, “You’ve done enough hard labor for one day. Right now, you deserve to at least have some food and a chance to breathe for a little while. So, let me buy you some pizza and you can hang out here and watch a movie. Unless you have someplace else to be?”

I looked her in her beautiful brown eyes and said, “I’m right where I want to be, right here, right now, with you.” Even as I said it, I realized that the words were rife with meaning.

Rose blushed lightly and then looked down and started swiping across her phone screen, saying, “One of the other neighbors recommended the pizza place over on Main Street to me. How hungry are you? I feel like I could eat a horse.”

I was honestly hungry enough to eat an entire extra-large pizza by myself, but I wasn’t sure I should, especially if Rose was buying. But not like I had the money to buy pizza for everyone myself. “I’m actually pretty hungry, but I don’t want to be an inconvenience.”

“No problem, Comrade,” Rose said, “You strike me as a guy who could eat a lot. How’s an extra-large sound? I’ll order an extra-large for you, and another extra-large for me. Pepperoni sound good to you?”

“I actually really like anchovies,” I told her, “it reminds me of the Mockba pizza we used to eat in Russia when I was a kid.”

“I _can _order that,” said Rose, “providing you _promise _to eat the whole thing. No one else here would ever touch the stuff!”

“Not a problem,” I told her with a grin.

“Kick off your shoes. Let me check with Lissa and see how much pizza she’d want or if anyone else is coming over. Then I’ll place the order.”

\--=o0/&\0o=-

After Rose managed to get Lissa’s attention, the two girls went into the kitchen to discuss pizza toppings. I waited a few minutes, but then my curiosity got the better of me. I padded over to the kitchen doorway and listened.

“Liss, I know!” Rose hissed, “I can’t believe how incredible he is. But I just met the guy today!”

“He offered to help us _move_, Rose. How bad can he be?” Lissa asked, “And, Rose, you need to get laid. It’s been over two years since everything happened with Jesse.”

“I don’t want him to think I’m easy. That’s what got me into the whole Jesse Zeklos mess to begin with!” _Jesse Zeklos? She couldn’t mean Ivan’s cousin, could she?_ I began to grind my teeth at the thought of sleazy Jesse with his hands on Rose.

“Doesn’t being with Dimitri sound so much better than waiting until you’re alone and being with Dildo Shaggins again?” It took me a second to realize who - what - she was referring to there. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing at the nickname for Rose’s sex toy. And I couldn’t believe that Rose was talking to her best friend about - or even _thinking _about - having sex with me. 

This might be the day I’d finally lose my virginity. And I’d never wanted to lose it more than to Rose.

“Fuck, does it sound better! Even if he’s bad, it might still be better than being by myself. Look at the man, though: he practically sweats straight-up sex appeal! He couldn’t be bad at it.” I sighed. Those were big expectations to have to live up to for my first time.

Rose continued. “But I want to be in this for the long haul. I don’t want him to think that I’m just another one-and-done kind of girl.” _Never_. If we got started, I don’t think I could ever get enough of Rose.

“So tell him you wanna be serious about him! _Before_ anything happens. Or give him the option to be a one-and-done. Tell him you want to fool around and see how far he takes it. If he’s only after some and then he gets gone, you’ll know. And you still might have an experience a hundred times better than Mr. Shaggins.” Hard to say if I could top what she could do to herself, but I could hope. _Hopefully a hundred times better than Jesse, too._

“Maybe. Shaggins isn’t that bad. Probably a thousand times better than Jesse, though. But, Liss, I really like him. I don’t want to fuck this up by putting sex on the table too soon. And I kinda feel like I barely know him. Don’t you almost get the feeling he’s hiding something?” _Hmm, I was going to have to play this one close to the vest. Rose seemed unusually good at reading me._

“Yeah, actually. Now that you mention it, it does seem like he’s hiding something. Like an absolutely huge dick in his pants! Maybe one that he should be using on you!” _One that he would love to use on her. Over and over and over again._

“No, Lissa, seriously! I mean, I feel like you and I have done most of the talking. Like he’s just analyzing. Or planning.” 

“Or afraid he’ll say the wrong thing? Rose, maybe he’s just nervous because he likes you. Why don’t you talk to him and find out what he’s feeling? Maybe you just need to open the door to it a little bit for something more to happen?”

“What do I say? Or what do I do?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like I know a ton about this. Rose, you have to be better at this than I am. I’ve only been with Aaron Drozdov and Christian.”

“You know I’ve only been with Jesse - and Dildo Shaggins.”

“Only one guy? You were never with _anyone _else? All those years? I could’ve sworn there was someone else.”

“No - none! You know I would’ve told you.”

“So, Jesse was your _first_? Man, no wonder you’re scared of getting back in the saddle! Rose, I don’t know what to tell you. Just be up-front with Dimitri. If you can’t be honest with him, you don’t have any hope of forming a lasting relationship. And if you want him to open up to you, you have to do it, too.”

“So, I guess I go out there, then?”

“I guess so.”

\--=o0/&\0o=-

I quickly moved away from the kitchen door and back to the couch, trying to look like I hadn’t been listening.

“Dimitri, It sounds like Liss is gonna go see her boyfriend, so it’s just you and me for the pizza. I’m just about set to order it. We’ve already got our internet and the TV’s got Netflix, Hulu, Redbox On Demand, and Amazon Prime all hooked up. Basically, my dad felt guilty for some abandonment issues from my childhood and hooked me up with all of the stuff to make up for it. Do you think you could pick a movie for us to watch while I’m ordering?”

“I can do that. Is there something particular you’d like?”

“Pick a comedy. Maybe something with a love story.”

I started scrolling through the movies available. “Sure,” I said, with a grin, “You know, if I didn’t know better, dinner and a romantic movie alone together almost sounds like a date.”

Rose smiled back at me. “If I were to ask, would you say ‘yes’ to that?”

My dick was getting harder just thinking about it. “I don’t know how I could ever say ‘no’ to an evening alone with a beautiful woman like you on a date.”

Rose let out a gasp. _Shit - too forward!_ I needed to reel it back a little, but still let her know I was interested. “But I should warn you, Rose, just because you’re buying me an expensive dinner and have me all alone at your house doesn’t mean I’m going to put out. I’m a virgin, after all.” 

Rose laughed. She’d probably think I was kidding about that last part, but we’d cross that bridge when we got there.

“Then it’s a date, Comrade. Do you think you could drive me over there when it’s time to get the pizza? I had to drive the moving truck, so my car is on the other side of town right now.”

“No problem,” I said. _Oh, it’s a _big _problem. I had my high school track jersey and school textbooks in the back seat of my car - and a dated school parking permit with the year on it hanging from the rearview mirror!_ How could I drive Rose in my car without her seeing that I’m in high school?

As Rose started dialing the phone number, I asked her, “Do you mind if I go clean out my car while you’re ordering the pizza?”

“No problem,” she said with another breathtaking grin.

As fast as I could, I ran out to my car, grabbed my school bag, tossed the jersey and parking permit inside, and threw them into my room in Randall’s house, then ran back to sit next to Rose on her couch, just as she was finishing up ordering the call.

“Comrade, I forgot to ask you if you wanted breadsticks, so I hope you don’t mind if I ordered some. I got the extra-cheesy ones.”

Extra-cheesy breadsticks. My favorite. God, this woman was too good for me. It all seemed just so, so fast, but I was already starting to fall for her. I wanted to make beautiful brown-eyed babies with her. 

Or at least go through all the motions that would cause babies. Yes, definitely that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think, so far? Who wants to see Christian make an appearance in the next chapter? Do you think he might know Dimitri from somewhere? Or who wants to see Dimitri get to _second base_ during the movie they watch?  
Anyone out there actually tried Russian Mockba pizza? Or even just anchovies? I’ve honestly always been curious, so it’s on my bucket list to try anchovies, but I’ve never mustered the courage to do it yet. If you’ve never tried it, I think shrimp on a pizza is AMAZING and I highly recommend giving it a shot.  
Apologies to those of you who are waiting for an update on Building the Tension. I’m still working on it, but these last few chapters are proving trickier to write.


	4. Eyes Not on the Movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Vampire Academy. If I did, the Bloodlines series would’ve had more of Rose and Dimitri together in it.  
This work has not been proofread by a beta (and maybe not much by me, either). It is probably rife with errors. If you find any, please feel free to let me know.  
There’s sexy times ahead (at least in teenage Dimitri’s mind), so don’t read this if you’re sensitive to such things or too young to have properly learned about the birds and the bees before reading. If you’re not, then full speed ahead this way.

“So when do we need to go get the pizza?” I asked her.

“It’s not going to be ready for another twenty minutes, so I’ll set a timer on my phone for when we need to go and then why don’t we get started on that movie?” she asked, “Did you find anything before you went to go clean out your car?”

“I didn’t,” I said, “I’m not really sure what would be a good movie to watch. Would you like to pick the movie?”

Rose was much more enthusiastic than I expected when she said, “Yes!” and immediately grabbed the remote. Within a few seconds, she had queued up a movie called The Princess Bride.

“This is my favorite movie of all time!” she cooed as the movie company logo began to scroll across the screen. I felt like her beautiful smile could get me to do anything she wanted.

With the TV at the extreme end of the couch, we were both sitting sort of awkwardly. As the movie started, I asked her, “Are you sure you have the right movie? This is some little kid in the eighties playing old video games on the screen.”

“Positive.” She smiled.

\--=o0/&\0o=-

When the timer beeped, I coughed as I tried to subtly adjust my pants from the hardness that had formed. 

I was grateful that Rose had sat between me and the TV, but not sure how much of the movie I was actually following. My eyes had been on Rose’s satiny-smooth shoulders, the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, and _maybe _on the neckline of her tank top - which I could _almost _manage to see down when she tilted exactly the right way. The curve of her full breasts looked so tantalizing. I wanted to bury my face between them so badly. 

And yes, she was _definitely _going without a bra in that top. Don’t judge me - it’s not inappropriate to look if it just happens to be on display in front of me, right?

As we got in my car and I got ready to start it, I warned her, “I apologize in advance if the car is a little noisy. It needs some work done. I do some of the work myself, but some of it requires parts or professional equipment. Money is a little tight for those things, but my car should still get us where we’re going.” 

I noticed that I had missed bringing one of my textbooks into the house, but thankfully it was my Chemistry book. I had been taking a dual-enrollment college course for Chemistry because my high school’s A.P. courses could only get me so far. Luckily, that would hopefully help support her impression that I am a true college student.

Rose smiled. “No problem. College is expensive and time-consuming. Sometimes it’s better to be focused on school or paying for it up-front than working.”

I pulled out of the drive and inwardly groaned at yet another thing I wanted to correct her on and tell the truth about, but I figured I could still tell her at least part of the truth without letting her think of me as a kid. I might as well get one hurdle out of the way. “Actually, I work evenings Monday through Thursday and full-time during the summers, but most of my money goes to my family. During the week, I live with my mother, my grandmother, my three sisters, my nieces, and my nephew. I have the car because I need it to get to and from work and to my father’s house, but if I didn’t, the money from my car payments would probably go to my family, too.”

“Wow,” said Rose, a genuine look of awe striking her face, “You remind me a little of Lissa’s boyfriend, Christian. You’re actually going to meet him later tonight; I really hope you guys like each other. He has done a lot to sacrifice for his family, too. Are you super-protective of your family, too?”

“A little bit,” I told her, “My sisters are all older than I am, but I still fought my sister Viktoria’s date when I caught him trying to take advantage of her a few years ago. I almost broke his nose. Thankfully, he never pressed charges.”

Rose nodded. “Definitely a lot like Christian. He has a niece that lives with him and he takes care of her, but after dating Lissa for seven years, he also treats me like the little sister he never had. I had a … well ... a bit of a bad situation, a few years back with a guy I had broken up with after we had been dating pretty seriously. Christian sort of came to my rescue and gave him a black eye.” 

“I hope he had it coming,” I said, wanting to tug on my neckline from fear of pissing off this Christian guy.

“Trust me; he did.” She laughed. “Thankfully, he wasn’t very strong, because Christian isn’t, either. If I knew what kind of guy he was, though, I never would’ve been with him in the first place.” 

“Does that mean that you have a thing for ‘bad boys’?” I asked her, “Because I can’t compete with that.”

“Not at all,” she told me, “I just had no idea who he really was. Since then, thankfully, I’ve become a lot better judge of character.”

\--=o0/&\0o=-

After we got back with our pizza, we sat on the living room floor and ate at the coffee table. Between the physical labor of lifting heavy furniture all day and the full stomach, I was ready to crash. I decided to be funny and show a bit of my personality, so I laid down on Rose’s couch with my head facing away from the TV, taking up the entire seven foot couch with my head propped on the arm.

“I’m good now, Roza,” I told her, letting the Russian version of her name just slip out in my stupor, “Just let me sleep here until morning and I’ll be fine.”

“What did you call me?” she asked, huffing and puffing as she pulled one of my legs off of the couch.

“Sorry, it just slipped out. Roza is Russian for Rose.” I moved my leg back and closed my eyes, covering my face. “I’m tired. Can’t I rest for just a few minutes?”

“No way, Comrade,” she said, moving the leg partway across the couch but not onto the floor before I pulled to keep it on the couch, “We’re finishing the movie now, even if I have to tickle-torture you to get it to happen.” She paused and let out a deep breath. “God, what do you eat? You weigh a ton!” 

I laughed as I moved my hand and opened my eyes. If Rose was going to work that hard to get me to watch the movie, I’d watch the movie. Even if I couldn’t focus on anything besides her. “Anchovy pizza and extra-cheesy breadsticks, most recently,” I told her, with a grin.

Before I could move to sit up, though, Rose had crawled into the space between my legs and leaned back against my body, wrapping my arms around her waist. _Holy shit! How do I hide my erection from her now?_

“You know,” Rose told me as she snuggled back into my body and pressed the play button on the remote to resume the movie, “This is nice, Dimitri. I could get used to this.”

Rose’s small body fit perfectly with mine, her head tucked into the crick of my neck, and the closeness and warmth of her body was amazing. I could feel the silky softness of her hair and skin against my arms, neck, and chest. 

And I could look straight down into her shirt and see her dusty pink nipples, standing at attention. _She definitely knows I’m sporting wood now._

Maybe this was my chance to make a move. All I’d have to do is subtly raise my hands, just a little at a time, across her body just a little bit … across her surprisingly rigid abs … the bottom of her rib cage …

“Belikov? What the hell are you doing here?” A masculine voice said. Rose paused the movie and sat up. We both turned to look at the doorway.

Standing there was my community college chemistry professor, Doctor Ozera - and he knew I was a high school student.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there you have it: we’ve brought Christian into the story now. I have plans for the next three to four chapters, but I’m still working out the long-term storyline in my mind.  
Don’t hate me for this, but I am finding it really difficult to finish the last few chapters of Building the Tension. I’ll get to it soon, though.


	5. Ozera's Bargain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vampire Academy and the characters belong to the stunning and talented Richelle Mead.  
This work has not been proofread (much). If you find something out of place, please let me know.  
The more mature content in this chapter is pretty limited, but I still wouldn’t read it if you’re a kid. (Honestly, though, if you’ve already made it this far, you’re probably already reading smut.)

Maybe this was my chance to make a move. All I’d have to do is subtly raise my hands, just a little at a time, across her body just a little bit … across her surprisingly rigid abs … the bottom of her rib cage …

“Belikov? What the hell are you doing here?” A masculine voice said. Rose paused the movie and sat up. We both turned to look at the doorway.

Standing there was my community college chemistry professor, Doctor Ozera - and he knew I was a high school student.

“_Doctor Ozera_?” I asked, too stunned by his sudden out-of-place appearance to move my hands from around Rose’s ribs.

Without looking at Rose, I could hear the smile in her voice when she asked, “Dimitri, you know Christian?”

Doctor Ozera laughed, saying, “You could say that. Dimitri is the top student in my Monday/Wednesday Chemistry II class at the community college.”

“Oh wow,” said Rose, “I had forgotten Christian taught a couple of courses at the community college. Of course! Dimitri is a student there! Christian, what are you doing here?” 

“Lissa is on her way inside. We just came by to get her stuff. I think the more important question is, Dimitri, what are _you _doing here? And _what _are you doing with Rose?” As he asked the second question, he pointed at my hands and was shooting daggers at me with his eyes.

I immediately moved my hands away from Rose. Thankfully, the awkwardness of Doctor Ozera entering had calmed my raging hard-on, because she was standing a moment later.

“Christian,” said Rose, “I appreciate your concern. Really, I do. It’s sweet. But what I do on a date with a guy or who I go out with is none of your business.”

“You mean to tell me this guy is your _date_?” Doctor Ozera asked. I could see his pale skin turning fuchsia with anger, but I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do. Lissa walked in while Rose and Doctor Ozera were having what appeared to be a staring contest.

“You literally _just _told me he’s the top student in your class!” Rose replied, “Ugh! Honestly, Christian, it’s nice that you treat me like a sister, but you’ve got to stop treating me like a child!”

Lissa intervened, saying, “Christian, this is the guy who goes to Springfield Community College that I was telling you about. The one who spent _all day_ carrying heavy furniture for some strangers just because he is a nice guy.”

“They already know each other. Dimitri’s in his class,” Rose informed Lissa, “And Christian is suddenly trying to keep me from being on a date with him.”

“Christian, remember what we talked about?” asked Lissa, “About Rose taking chances?”

“Fine!” Doctor Ozera said. He turned to me. “Dimitri, a _private _word in the kitchen, please.”

I turned to look at Rose. “Ugh! Just _go_!” she told me, motioning towards the kitchen.

\--=o0/&\0o=-

Once we were in the kitchen, Doctor Ozera began talking, all the while pinning me in place with his eyes. “Belikov, seriously, when I walked in the room, you were well on your way to second base with Rose - and Rose is like a baby sister to me! Don’t try to deny it, either, because I _know _what I saw! You fucking just met her today!”

Hearing the f-bomb from my professor was shocking enough, but the whole situation just got a whole lot more awkward when the rest of his sentence registered. Before I could reply, Doctor Ozera continued, running his hands through his hair and tugging at the ends. “Dimitri, I know you’re a good student and you have always seemed very smart and responsible. Just tell me you’re gonna be honorable with Rose. She clearly really likes you. Man, you better not be trying to take advantage of her. Because they will not find the body if I find out you used her just to get laid, Dimitri.”

“Doctor Ozera,” I told him, “It’s early; I know. But I think I really care for her. I’ve never met someone like her before.” 

“Okay, I believe you. But, Dude,” he said, “we’re not in class and you’re apparently dating Rose. Call me Christian.” He paused for a second, then added, “And if you care for her, take it slow with her. Do it right and show her you really care before trying to get some boob. I remember being eighteen, man; I know the hormones are practically calling your name, but don’t give in to them. Give it at least three dates - preferably a month - before you start to get physical with her. She’s not ready for that. Even if she thinks she is.”

“I’ll try,” I told him, honestly, “I don’t want to mess this up with her.”

“She doesn’t know how old you are, does she?” he asked.

“No,” I admitted, “I just never found a good way to tell her, and then it didn’t seem like such a great idea.”

“As far as I’m concerned, the age difference is not a problem. You did _not _hear this, but Lissa and I started dating when she was a freshman at the college I was teaching at.” I breathed a sigh of relief until he added, “However, you can’t keep it a secret from her forever.”

“She’d never be interested in me if she knew I was still in high school,” I told him.

“Maybe. Maybe not. But you can’t lie to her, dude,” he said.

“I never lied to her. She just assumed and I never corrected it.”

“Lying outright or not, you deceived her. Same thing.”

“Just a few more weeks,” I told him, “and then I’ll graduate. After that, I will be a college student. And it won’t be deceiving her anymore.”

“You’re playing with fire on this, Dimitri,” he said, “And I should know. You know the reason I went into Chemistry was because I like to blow stuff up; right?”

I laughed at that and nodded. He’d told us as much on the first day of class. 

“As long as you treat her with respect, then I’m not going to be the one to tell her, Dimitri. Just make sure she hears it from you before she hears it from someone else,” he said, “And no touchy-feely stuff for at least three dates!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter isn’t a huge disappointment for those who were hoping for some Rose and Dimitri sexy times. We’ll have a bit more heat in the next chapter, I promise.  
True story: when deciding what curriculum Christian would be teaching in college, I was inspired by my own husband’s initial choice in college major. He entered college as a Chemical Engineering major because of the very reason Christian mentioned above!  
I’m still working on the next chapter for Building the Tension, but at the moment, the words are just not coming. I know what needs to happen, but knowing the destination and getting there are two very different things.


	6. Didn't Need Mr. Shaggins Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extremely sexual content in this chapter.  
I don’t own Vampire Academy or any of the rest, just this completely different plot.  
No proofreading has occurred. Give me a shout if you see any major flaws. (Thanks in advance!)

**Rose’s POV:**

Ugh! Stupid Christian!

_There I was, laying in Dimitri’s luscious, muscular arms, feeling the warmth of his hard yet supple body all around me, his arms wrapped around my waist. And his huge rock-solid erection pressed flush like a brand up against my back. Good God, that thing must have been half the length of my spine. The longer-term relationship really was the important thing here and I really didn’t want to just end up fooling around and turning this into a one-and-done thing, but I knew in that instant that if he made a move, I was not going to stop him. And I knew in that instant that he wanted to make a move._

_But then Christian had to walk in. After we squared everything away with him, Lissa grabbed an overnight bag from her room and then Christian and Lissa went back to Christian’s house for the night. Finally, I was back in Dimitri’s arms again, the movie playing. _

_I will always love The Princess Bride. It has been my favorite movie by a wide margin from every other movie I have ever seen since the day I first saw it. But I’ve also seen it over twenty times and at that moment, there was nothing about that or any other movie that could hold my attention in that room._

_Dimitri’s big, warm, calloused hands began moving their way up my stomach. He tried - mostly successfully, if I hadn’t been so keenly aware of his presence - to be subtle about it the first time, right before Christian arrived, but he was less subtle this second time. After a callous on his hand snagged the fabric of my shirt a couple of times, he let his hand slide under the bottom hem of my shirt, all intimations of subtlety completely abandoned, then let his hands begin their journey back up._

_Within moments, I could feel his fingertips at the base of each of my breasts. I took a deep breath as I felt his hand rise and begin cupping me. He let out a harsh hiss as his thumbs brushed over each of my nipples, his touch causing them to stiffen. As his hands continued squeezing and massaging my breasts, his thumbs circling over my nipples, he leaned in and began kissing my neck. The heat from his mouth on the sensitive spot just under my ear caused a shiver of excitement. _

_So close to my ear, I could hear how hard he was breathing and my own breathing began to match his. Dimitri captured my earlobe in his mouth, running his tongue along the edge. He gently nipped on my earlobe as his fingers began gently pinching and tugging at my hardened peaks. _

_I was panting now._

_One of Dimitri’s hands stayed on one of my breasts while the other began to venture lower along my stomach. I knew what was coming next and nothing could have made me stop him, but I even surprised myself when I was unzipping my shorts and dragging them and my panties down a few seconds later. I sat up, pulling my tank top over my head to give him completely unfettered access. I hadn’t been completely naked in front of a man since Jesse - before all of the cheating._

_At this point, I think I was completely willing to have sex with Dimitri. The long haul sounded great and he seemed like a wonderful guy, so I hoped he was more than just a one-and-done, but it’d been a _long _time since I’d been touched by a man - and despite our two years together, Jesse had never made me come. I’m not the kind of girl to sleep around, but if I’m honest with myself, half the reason I agreed to Lissa and I renting the house out here this summer was in the hopes that I could get laid. I’d never felt the sexual chemistry I had felt with Dimitri with anyone else, especially not Jesse._

_As I eased back into the cradle of his legs, the erection that was somewhat noticeable before became inescapably noticeable, pressed rigid against my bare spine, throbbing and stiff. His arms circled back around my naked body, one hand returning to my breast and the other slowly meandering down my stomach into the juncture of my thighs. _

_When his lower hand reached its goal, sinking into my folds, Dimitri rasped out, “Fuck!” and took a few deep breaths, “You’re so much wetter than I imagined.”_

_His fingers stayed on the outside, timidly exploring me. They weren’t perfectly skilled, but they were still better than Jesse’s just by the sake that he wasn’t immediately just trying to roughly thrust and stretch me out to try to prep me for sex. I kind of liked it better that way, knowing that he didn’t necessarily know what he was doing, because then I knew I wasn’t necessarily the twentieth girl he’d been with - this year alone._

_When his fingertip brushed over my clit, I let out a low moan and practically purred his name, arching my body into his hands. Once he found it, he became a quick study and began circling it over and over again._

_“Yes,” I panted, “Dimitri, that feels so good! You’re going to make me come!” _

_At my words, his circling and prodding became more intense, insistently increasing the friction against my sensitive little button. All the while, he was tugging and pinching my nipples harder and harder._

_Finally, my body couldn’t take any more. I let out a keening, wordless plea, the feeling of rapture hit me, and stars exploded behind my eyelids._

As the feeling of the orgasm overwhelmed me, I gave myself a moment to calm back down, then removed my hands from my trembling body. I looked over at my nightstand and thought about just flipping off the light and going to sleep, but I knew I’d probably be more comfortable if I washed, brushed my teeth, and changed into pajamas.

I stood up and walked over to my closet. I grabbed the extra-large t-shirt I had stolen from Jesse our freshman year of college and threw it on. I hadn’t felt anything but disgust for Jesse at this point in our lives, but damn if that shirt wasn’t the most comfortable thing I owned. I began preparing to head to the bathroom to wash and get ready for bed when I noticed the lingerie drawer sitting on the closet floor. There in the corner of the drawer was Dildo Shaggins. I guess I didn’t need Mr. Shaggins tonight after all. 

Hopefully, I’d get to the point soon where the real Dimitri would be fulfilling that role instead of just my fingers and the Dimitri in my imagination.

\--=o0/&\0o=-

**Dimitri POV:**

After the talk with Christian, I knew I had to be on my best behavior with Rose and truly take things slow, no matter how impossible that seemed. There was definitely something special about Rose and she was worth it to me to get it right. When I walked back into the room, she was laying across the left half of the couch, all too eager to be back laying between my legs again, but I opted to sit beside her with my feet on the floor instead. 

When it was time to leave for the night, we exchanged numbers, making plans to go out on a date next weekend. I gave Rose a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said goodbye, making my way across to Randall’s house for the night. She seemed upset when we parted and I was almost certain that she had wanted me to kiss her on the lips, but I’d be damned if our first kiss was going to be a kiss goodbye - plus, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk away once her beautiful lips were on mine.

What I hadn’t realized during all of that moving was that Rose’s bedroom window looked directly out towards my room. Her curtains were open and her bedside lamp’s dim light was on, but I don’t think she saw me there. She was laying on her bed, still dressed, with her hands inside her tank top.

Due to the lack of air conditioning, it was pretty much mandatory that my bedroom window had to stay open with the curtains open, so I’d gotten in the habit with the last neighbors of changing in the bathroom and then entering my room without turning the light on during hot nights to give myself a modicum of privacy when I had to leave the window open. Tonight was definitely one of those nights, so Rose’s view of my window should’ve been nothing but a dark room.

Was it my imagination or were her hands caressing her breasts? I sat, captivated, as I watched her. A few seconds later, all doubt as to what her hands were doing disappeared - when her clothes disappeared. The woman had the body of a goddess, absolutely flawless. _And I could see nearly _every _flawless inch of it._ Her beautiful tanned skin glowed in the soft light of her bedside lamp. As her fingers began teasing and caressing her body, I checked the lock on my bedroom door, then began dragging my shorts down over my aching shaft. As her fingers plunged past the beautiful soft brown curls at the juncture of her thighs, I began stroking, imagining that was me between her thighs.

I’d seen porn at Ivan’s house on his computer, but this was a million times better. I watched enrapt, studying the way she liked her body to be touched and the facial expressions she made as she touched: every flick of her fingers, every tug, what kind of pressure to apply, what spots she liked to be caressed. I was never going to get a better guide as to how to pleasure her. At one point, I could see Rose’s lips moving. I’m not an expert at lip-reading, but I could’ve sworn she said ‘Dimitri’. I nearly came as soon as I saw that, but I continued watching her. 

I tried to still my hand so that I wouldn’t come before I saw her do it, but I wasn’t entirely sure the stillness was making much of a difference. Just watching her with my eyes alone was bringing me closer. If I were to have actually had my hands on her tonight, I had little doubts that I would’ve spilled right in my shorts.

I saw the look on her face and I knew the moment she was climaxing. I had never seen a woman look more beautiful in my life. Two strokes later and I was joining her in ecstasy. I decided in that moment that I was going to love spending weekends at Randall’s house this summer because I was quickly falling in love with Rose. _Roza_.

A moment later, Rose got up. I started to turn to clean myself up, but I noticed her putting on a gigantic St. Vladimir’s Basketball t-shirt. Along the back of the shirt, it said ‘Zeklos’. In _that _moment, I knew two things: first, that the Jesse they had talked about earlier _was _Ivan’s lecherous cousin who screwed everything female with at least two legs, whether willing or not, and second, that she was, in fact, the Rosemarie ‘Hooligan’ Hathaway that so many of the rumors I’d heard had been about. 

I was beginning to fall in love with _Rose Hathaway_. I was doomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the little tease there, folks. Hopefully you all figured out that the top part there was just Rose’s fantasy, as opposed to what actually happened. (And hopefully you’re not too pissed about that, either!) Overwhelming consensus from comments on chapter three - that I’ve honestly come to agree with - was that it was too soon for our two lovers to be getting down and dirty, but I still wanted both of them to be thinking about it.  
What do you think the rumors Dimitri heard about Rose were about - or who do you think he had heard them from? How long do you think everyone can keep all of their secrets?  
This chapter has been done for a few days now, so I’m glad to finally get it out to you. For those of you who are anxiously awaiting the next chapter of Building the Tension, I just got past my writers’ block and started work on the chapter yesterday and have been working on getting the chapter finished and in the hands of my beta. I’m hoping to have it ready for publishing by Wednesday or so.  
I was hoping to finish writing it tonight, but unfortunately, my son (under age 10) just got expelled from child care and suspended from elementary school at the end of the day today for inappropriately touching another student and it really threw my plans off. I’m honestly thrown for a loop and feel like I’ve failed as a mother, I have no idea how to have my son cared for after school starting on Monday, and my husband’s so seething with anger he’s barely speaking to either of us right now, so if anyone has any really brilliant suggestions, I’m all ears.


	7. Sweet Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do I own? Absolutely nothing. Nothing but sweet, sweet smut, and maybe the occasional comedic timing.  
I make a lot of mistakes. Do me a solid and point out anything you see that really stands out. This includes missing Author Notes in a chapter (like chapter 6 had for the first 24 hours - if you missed them, feel free to go back and read the notes).  
You know by now, don’t read this if you’re significantly younger than Dimitri is in this story. It’s not for kids.

My jean shorts and underwear were around my ankles as I kissed her beautiful lips. Her lips were everything I’d imagined and more, and her soft hand felt incredible gripping my dick so hard, stroking it up and down. 

Rose pulled off her giant St. Vladimir’s Basketball t-shirt, revealing her beautiful body - completely naked - and pushed me down onto her bed, my legs trapped in place by the jean shorts and boxer briefs around my ankles. I grabbed Rose’s beautiful breasts as she leaned in and began giving my shaft giant licks, like some sort of long lollipop. I pinched her nipples as I had seen her do to herself that night, earning a moan of pleasure from her. My dick lurched to attention even more at that lovely sound.

Rose used her tongue to draw slow circles around the head, then began flicking her tongue back and forth over the slit. Her tongue moved lightning fast, in repeated quick little flicks sending sparks through my whole body.

I couldn’t hold back the screams and curses in both English and Russian like I had never sworn before as they began to flow from my mouth freely with each lap of her tongue. “Oh, fuck! _Piz-dets_! Holy mother of fuck! _Ye-bat’_! Oh shit! _Gav-no_! Goddamnit! _Blyat’!_ Oh fucking hell! Oh, God! _O bozhe da!_ Holy fucking shit! _Der’mo_! Oh, fuckity-fuckity-fuck-fuck-fuck!”

When she wrapped her lips around me and pushed my cock deep in the back of her hot, wet throat, I immediately threw my head back and came, coating the back of her throat in my essence.

\--=o0/&\0o=-

I was used to waking up with morning wood. It happens. To me, it happened daily, since the day I turned fifteen. What I was not used to was what I had been going through for the past five nights - since the night I met Rose. 

Since the night I saw Rose naked. Fondling her luscious, round breasts and teasing her nipples.

Running her fingers over her dripping wet heat.

Since the night I saw her _saying my name_ just before she climaxed naked on her bed.

Rose had been starring in my dreams every night, her beautiful naked body on display and pleasuring me. And I’d been waking up to underwear, pajamas, and a bed full of the results of that pleasure.

I’d been covertly doing a lot of laundry. Honestly, someone is seriously going to think I’m a bedwetter. Thank god my sisters haven’t found out. Yet.

I wadded up my sheets, tossing my pajamas and boxer briefs in the middle, then checked the clock. It was a quarter to five. Mama would be up at six o’clock. Vika didn’t usually wake up to go to S.C.C. campus until later - which was probably a good thing, since she was the one who would tease me the most mercilessly about this -, but Karo and Sonya had kids to get ready for school before they went to work for the morning and would be up by seven. _Babushka _Yeva slept at odd and unpredictable times, but she had a way of keeping things to herself, so I was less worried about her finding out, even though her bedroom was right next to the laundry closet. 

The wash cycle on our machine normally took forty minutes to run. The dryer took another thirty-five minutes if I ran it on high heat and let it finish drying completely. I had to get everything washed and get the sheets back on the bed before Mama woke, so I decided to let them go until five fifty - they’d be damp, for sure - and pull sheets out so that I could put them back on the bed before she came downstairs.

I opened my bedroom door and looked out at the hallway. I looked left. I looked right. The coast was clear. In my head, I could almost hear the _Mission: Impossible_ theme song playing as I made my way out. I crept on tip-toes down the hallway, avoiding the squeaky spots in the floorboards. When I reached the stairs, I stepped left, then right, then right again, then left, knowing exactly which places on the stairs would creak if I stepped there, having done this so many times before.

Once I had tossed the bundle of sheets in the washer with the detergent, I rushed to get it started. Without thinking, I slammed the lid down. The sound was not that big, but in the quiet of the early morning in a house full of sleeping women and children, the sound was deafening. 

Panic filled me. I stood there with my hand on the lid, mentally counting to sixty to see if anyone had heard and would come running. Silence. The coast was clear, again. 

I turned the dial and started the wash cycle, then turned to walk back to my room, creeping along the same careful path on my way back. After I got back to my room, I set my alarm for thirty-five minutes, just before the washer would be done, and laid back down on the empty mattress, allowing myself to drift back off for just a little longer - and praying that dreams of Rose wouldn’t make me come again in my clean underwear while there were no blankets on the bed. 

When the alarm went off, my cock was hard as a rock, but my boxers were still clean and dry. I managed to avoid hitting the snooze button, even though I was desperately tired after getting up early like this for several days in a row, and went back downstairs on the same stealthy trek and loaded the sheets into the dryer, setting it for maximum heat. After I had the dryer running and headed back upstairs. On my way up the stairs, I missed one of the noisy spots and I heard a loud creaking sound. I gave it another minute before I made my way back up the rest of the stairs. 

Once back in my room, I began to go through my school bag, getting ready for the start of the school day. I had some extra homework that I could have saved, so I decided to get it out of the way while I was waiting. Maybe I could get a quick nap in during the afternoon before going to work tonight. As long as I was home, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to get my responsibilities out of the way and rest now. Once I was at Randall’s, I would want to spend every second I could with Rose. We had already made plans to go out on Friday night and Saturday night and I couldn’t wait to see her.

At a quarter to six, I went back down and got my sheets out of the dryer. I wrapped the bundle up again and I was careful not to slam the dryer door. I turned to head up the stairs, creeping carefully along the stairs, careful not to make them creak again. When I got to my bedroom door and began to carefully and slowly turn the handle, I heard a voice say, “Why have you been sneaking around for the last hour, Dimka?”

Viktoria was standing in the hallway behind me.

_O blyat’!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what’d you think of Dimitri’s wet dream? Or the way he tried to be sneaky about washing his sheets? Do you think Dimitri will be able to keep Vika from figuring out what he’s doing?  
If you read it, please review it.


	8. Caught in the Act

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By now, you know the drill on these three little disclaimers:  
I don’t own VA.  
No proofreaders but me.  
Mature content lives in this story (this chapter’s not too smutty, though).

“Why have you been sneaking around for the last hour, Dimka?” Viktoria asked.

I turned to look at her, the conspicuous bundle of sheets in my arms impossible to hide. “Just getting an early start on laundry, Vika. I wanted to surprise Mama by doing some extra chores,” I told her, flawlessly disguising my covering up my evidence of soiled bedding with a selfless attempt to help around the house.

“Aren’t those the same sheets that were on your bed last night? And isn’t that the pair of pajama pants you wore to bed last night sticking out of the pile there?” _Okay, so, maybe not so flawlessly_.

“Just trying to get ahead,” I told her, trying to plaster a feigned smile on my face.

Vika continued, “Those wouldn’t be dirty enough to need to wash yet.”

“Uhhh … I … spilled some orange juice on them,” I quickly fibbed.

“You’ve been doing laundry since five o’clock. So either you slept in them wet and sticky with orange juice last night or you got up at four-thirty to drink orange juice in your room.” Viktoria scratched her chin as she gave me a mischievous smirk.

“I decided to get up early to do some homework,” I replied, “and had a glass of juice first.”

“I thought you said you were up to surprise Mama with extra chores?”

“And homework, too,” I told her.

“It seems to me, Dimka, that there are only three reasons you’d have to wash your sheets like that, and all of them involve not wanting someone to see what’s on those sheets. And two of them involve a girl.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous, Viktoria. What are you talking about?”

“If you peed the bed, you’d have to wash your sheets like that - and probably your mattress, too - but even Babushka doesn’t have to wear adult diapers yet. I know you have a new girlfriend, Dimka. I saw your text to ‘Roza’ about going out with her over the weekend. So, either you had this Roza girl in there last night and you needed to wash away the evidence of taking her virginity, or you had some,” cough, “messy,” cough, “dreams, probably about this Roza, last night. Now, do I need to tell Mama and Babushka that they need to have some talks with you about being respectful with a girl you just met - and locking you in the house at night - or you need to admit that you are a sick pervert who can’t keep his man chowder in his pants when he’s sleeping, Dimka. Now which one is it?”

I stared at Viktoria in embarassed horror. No way was I going to live this down. I turned my face down as I admitted, “Roza wasn’t here. It was just me.”

Viktoria wrinkled her nose. “Gross, Dimka. Were you careful about how you carried it? I hope you didn’t drip any baby batter on anything on your way to the washer.”

“Vika!” I gruffly yell-whispered to her, my head still down, “Not that it’s any of your business as long as the floor is clean, but I was careful about how I wrapped up the sheets before I brought them downstairs.”

“Just don’t get any of your ball barf anywhere near me. Either way, spilling your trouser gravy in your pants while dreaming of her _or _deflowering her,” she said, “I think you need to bring this Roza here for us to meet her properly, Dimka.”

My face turned up to look at Vika, eyes wide as saucers. There was no way I could bring Rose to meet my family!

“What?” she asked, “It can’t be worse than Rolan.”

I interrupted, “Who you did _not _bring home to the family for _us _to meet!”

“And if I had, Dimka, he never would’ve been in my life long enough that you needed to break his nose. That’s why you need someone more objective than the little man in your pants to tell you whether this Roza is okay or not. Then I can kick her ass if she isn’t good enough for my baby brother.”

“I didn’t break his nose, Vika,” I told her, “I just made it bleed a little. Enough for him to learn to respect you and stay away. But this thing with Roza is too new. I can’t introduce her to the family yet. And you will _not _be kicking her ass, Viktoria.”

“Why won’t I be kicking her ass? Is she under eighteen, like your last girlfriend? Ooh, maybe there’s a bigger age difference than I thought, here! Maybe you’re like seven years older than she is. Dimka, has she at least entered puberty? Are you a pedophile - or an actual child molester?”

“No! I’m not a _child molester_! Vika, _I _was under eighteen when I dated my last girlfriend! And she was only a year younger than I was! Why would you even think something like that?”

“So how old is she, Dimka?”

“She’s … older than I am.”

“Is she a freshman in college? Ooh, where does she go? Did you meet her in your Chemistry class at S.C.C.? Is there a chance I might have _met _her?”

“She’s not in my Chemistry class at S.C.C.,” I told her, trying to be as cagey as I could about providing any actual details.

“But I _have _met her, then?” she asked. Uh-oh, Viktoria can be like a truth-sniffing bloodhound, scenting out the little fragments.

“Met who?” asked Mama, rounding the corner from her bedroom. I was still holding my bundle of sheets in my hands, trying not to draw attention to it.

“Dimka’s new girlfriend ‘Roza’, Mama,” Viktoria said, “She’s in _college_.” If we had been sitting at a dinner table, I might’ve kicked Vika’s leg out of spite.

Mama’s eyes lit up as she said, “Dimitri, you’ve met someone special? And Viktoria has already met her, too? Oh, how wonderful! When do the rest of us get to meet her?”

“I was just telling Viktoria that I’ve only known Roza since Saturday and I think it’s still too early to introduce her to our family.”

“So, what’s she like, Vika?” Mama asked.

Viktoria looked studiously at me.

I took a moment to think of what to tell them. “She’s very strong, Mama. She’s been through a lot in her life and she’s not afraid to be who she really is with anyone. I think you’d really like her. Fiercely protective. She’s so smart and absolutely tenacious when she sets her mind to something. She wants to become a social worker so that she can help those who can’t help themselves,” I said, adding in a low mumble, “and she is maybe the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“See, Dimka?” interjected Viktoria, “Thinking with the little man. This is why you need _us _to meet her. Now, clearly I already know her from _somewhere_, so why don’t you tell me her last name?”

“You might not even remember Rose,” I said, hopefully.

Viktoria scrunched up her face. “I thought her name was Roza.”

“It is. You’ve been out of Baia for too long, _sestra_,” I said, using the Russian word for sister.

“Why don’t you want to tell me her name, Dimka? It’s not like she’s Hooligan Hathaway.” Oh, shit.

Before I could try to come up with something to say to that, my mother asked, “Who’s Hooligan Hathaway?”

“Rosemarie ‘Hooligan’ Hathaway. I only knew her by reputation because she was the grade above me. And _then _the grade _below _me. She was the St. Vladimir’s student that half of the strange rules you had asked me about that came out when I attended were made for, Mama. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have that rule about not bringing aluminum foil into the cafeteria, or the rule about making sure underwear aren’t visible out the back of your waistband, or the rule about not lighting candles on school grounds. Not to mention she slept with half the guys in our graduating class - _and_, she _kidnapped _her best friend Vasilisa and went to live in Portland with her as strippers for an entire year!” 

Wait - Rose was a _stripper_? And I missed it? My dick was hardening just imagining her lithe body as she shimmied provocatively across a dance floor pulling off items of her clothing.

“_Bozhe moy_!” Mama exclaimed, “This girl sounds like real trouble, Viktoria. Although, you never can trust rumors if you haven’t known the girl personally, and it’s certainly not nice to make assumptions about who someone is or isn’t sleeping with. You remember all the rumors that were spread about you after Dimitri saved you from Rolan. Now, Dimka, your Roza sounds nothing like these rumors,” she eyed Viktoria, “- because that’s all they are - about this Hathaway girl. When do we get to meet Roza?”

“Mama, let me get to know her first. Could I have a few months?” Maybe until the summer is over when I’m officially in college. “_Then _I will introduce her to our family,” I said.

“I know you’ll introduce this girl to us when you’re ready, Dimka,” Mama said, patting me on the shoulder, “You have a good head on your shoulders. You do what you feel is best.”

“Thank you, Mama.”

“So, Dimitri, tell me her last name already,” Vika said, “Or I’m sure Mama would love to know all the details about the extra chores you were doing this morning?”

I thought quickly back to something Rose had told me: “_I used to go by my mom’s last name because my parents never actually got married, but a few years ago, I patched things up with my dad and these days I go by his last name: Mazur._”  
“She said her last name is Mazur. But I don’t think you’ve ever met her, Vika.”  
“Hmm,” said Mama, “I wonder if she’s related to my old friend Abe Mazur.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I told her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this one. I had a lot of laughs looking up all the various possible euphemisms that Viktoria could’ve used. Rose should be back in the picture next chapter again. If you ever want a good laugh, you can Google “funny names for semen”. Close runners-up that didn’t make the cut (a few for more obvious reasons of the fact that his sister is saying them to him): throat yogurt, wiener sauce, he-mulsion, and cock snot.  
What’d you think? Feedback is appreciated. :-)


	9. Do the Cooking With Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My three disclaimers (Hey! That could almost be the name of a 1950’s sitcom):  
No ownership expressed or implied except for the storyline.  
No one has checked my mistakes: grammatical, spelling, or otherwise.  
Sexy stuff happens here. Be old enough (and not a prude) before you read this.

I was already starting to stiffen as I rang Rose and Lissa’s doorbell, thinking of being close to this beautiful woman and all the things I wanted to do to her amazing body. I stood there holding the grocery bags full of pre-measured ingredients and supplies in one hand and Ivan’s book tucked under my other arm, waiting for her to come to the door. I was so excited that I had arrived on her doorstep before even stopping by Randall’s when I arrived on Friday afternoon. I only hoped Roza didn’t laugh at my - well, Mama’s and Ivan’s, really - low-budget date ideas.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

** _Flashback:_ **

“So, my little Dimka,” Mama chuckled - I hadn’t been smaller than her since I was twelve, but she still insisted on calling me ‘little’. “You really want to impress Roza this weekend?”

“Yes, Mama,” I replied.

“And you don’t know what to do for your date that doesn’t cost a lot of money?”

“I don’t.”

“How about you cook for her?” she suggested.

Knowing the way Roza reacted when we had our pizza, this seemed ideal. The way to Roza’s heart was definitely through her stomach.

“As long as you promise not to share my recipe, I will even help you so that you can make some _black bread _for her.”

“Black bread?” I asked, astounded, “You wouldn’t even share that recipe with Karolina when she tried to move out!”

“And I _still _won’t be giving you the whole recipe,” she said, “but I’ll give you containers with the ingredients in the right amounts already measured out and the instructions to mix them together and bake them.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

** _More Flashback:_ **

“Olena wants you to cook for Rose tonight, so you’ll look like this sensitive man who’s all domestic and shit?” Ivan asked me as he sat down at the lunch table beside me, “And Rose is just going to sit there in the other room while you do all the cooking, and not be near you until it’s all done?”

“That’s the general idea,” I told him, “I already texted Rose and told her to expect a surprise and that we would be eating at her house. Her roommate, Lissa, is going to be out of the house all weekend visiting Lissa’s family.”

“And you said she is smoking hot? Like a perfect ten?”

“Yes, Ivan. what’s your point?”

“Does she have tits, Dimitri? Like big ones, I mean?” I scowled at Ivan’s very personal question. “Wait - I know your taste in girls, Dimitri - of course she does! Why would I even ask such a question?”

I started to growl at his assumption - despite its accuracy - until he said, “I know you want to get a chance to feel them.”

I smacked him on the back of the head as I said, “Ivan!!!”

“So you do the cooking _with _her - together. Then you can still be the domestic dude who knows how to cook for your woman and put your arms around her while you’re cooking together, getting close to her. And if you just happen to _accidentally _graze one with your arm, all the better.”

I couldn’t decide whether to scowl, smack him again, or hug him. His idea … had merit.

“Better yet,” Ivan continued, “You said you’re making Olena’s black bread recipe with Rose - right?”

“Yes.”

“The bread needs time to rise and bake, right? So bring some games with you to play while you’re waiting. Make sure one of them’s Twister. Then, you ask her what she wants to play. It gives her the chance to look like she’s in control. But ninety percent of the time, if you ask a girl what she wants, she’ll tell you it’s up to you. Then you pick Twister!”

“That’s ridiculous. I don’t even _own _Twister, Ivan.”

“Perfect! You buy a copy of it and you can tell her you want that one because it’s new and you’ve never played it before. And you have plenty of chances to touch her. It will probably end up with you losing your cherry right there on the Twister mat!”

“I don’t have the time or the money to go out and buy a game before I go to her house tonight. Not to mention I told Doctor Ozera that I wouldn’t make a move on her until after our third date.”

“You’re supposed to have another date with her tomorrow night, right?” he asked me.

“Yes.”

“And last Saturday night was your first date?”

“Yes.”

“So tomorrow will be your third date. Have a long talk while you’re waiting for the bread to bake tonight. And bring Twister tomorrow. It’s only like fifteen bucks. I’ll use my Amazon Prime and order it right now. I’ll have it sent next-day shipping to Randall’s house for you.”

“Maybe I could do that. What do I talk with her about tonight?”

“I’ve got this book my mom gave me of all these deep questions for couples to ask each other in my locker. Chicks dig that stuff. I’ll get it for you after lunch.”

“Tomorrow won’t be _after _our third date, though,” I told him, “it will _be _our third date. So, even if she was into it, I still don’t think I could just start feeling her up during the game and turn it into fucking right there.”

“So maybe you play a few other games first and just use Twister to tease her a little tomorrow. Give her a little while to stew in it before your next date when you can make your move. And if she doesn’t want to play it, you don’t have to.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, “_You_ have a Twister game ...”

“Exactly!” Ivan said with a smug grin, “And it works every time.”

“Gross, dude, I played on that board at your house at your birthday party last year! With my sister’s kids!”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

“Dimitri!” Rose said as she opened the door, “Come on in! I’m so happy to see you!” Rose was wearing a dress and I was even more grateful that I had not brought the Twister game with me. When Rose threw her arms around me, I almost decided to drop the bag of ingredients to wrap her in my arms, but I knew that the glass bottle inside the bag would shatter. Her long, dark hair was down and it looked silky and smelled amazing. I tried not to seem like a creeper as I inhaled deeply.

Rose grinned at me and said, “What’s this big surprise you have for me? I haven’t been able to think about anything else since you texted me about it on Thursday.”

“Good,” I told her, and before I could stop my mouth from saying more, I told her, “because I haven’t been able to think of anything but you since last weekend.”

Rose’s smile widened more and I thought I caught a hint of a blush on her cheeks. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you since you had your arms around me during the movie last Saturday.”

I set the bags down. Finally, _now _was the time to kiss her. 

And then Rose turned away. 

Maybe not _right _now.

“You still didn’t tell me what the surprise was,” she said, as she headed into the kitchen. 

I picked the bags back up and followed her. “We are going to cook dinner together,” I told her, “I brought everything we need.”

Surprisingly, Rose laughed. Not a tiny little chuckle like, ‘Oh, what fun,’ but instead a thick, hearty belly laugh. “You think food cooked _by me_ is going to turn out okay?”

Maybe cooking with her wasn’t the best idea, after all? Ivan, you’re batting a no-hitter so far tonight.

“I will do most of the work,” I assured her, “but I wanted to make you something special and I didn’t want you to be sitting in another room by yourself while I’m off in the kitchen.”

“I can come in and help,” she told me, “but don’t leave me in charge of anything.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

“I got us some wine,” Rose told me as I began unpacking the bags of ingredients onto the counters, “I didn’t know what we’d be having, so I got White Zinfandel. I figured it goes with anything.”

I wouldn’t be able to not drink tonight without her noticing. _Just one glass_, I thought, as Rose began pouring two wine glasses out. 

I got the mixing bowl, the bread ingredients, and the bread recipe out and put the rest in Rose’s refrigerator.

“It won’t be ready until after dinner, but we’re going to start by making my mother’s Russian black bread.”

“Wow, what’s in this stuff?” Rose said, glancing at all of the bags and bottles, opening a few to sniff them. “Is that chocolate?”

“It’s a family secret and she wouldn’t give me the recipe - just the ingredients to make it, all measured out. I’m pretty sure that is cocoa powder, though. There’s also a cup with what I think is some really strong black coffee in it. Why don’t you start mixing in the bowl and I’ll pour the ingredients in until it starts to get too thick to mix with the spoon?”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

“It’s starting to get pretty thick, Dimitri,” Rose said, “It’s kind of hurting my arms.”

I dumped the rest of the flour into the bowl and came up behind her and pulled the spoon out of her arms and pulled her hair away from one side of her shoulders. “It’ll do that,” I told her, lowering my voice as my face got closer to her ear, “You should see what it feels like to knead it. This is just one loaf, so it won’t be so bad. Mama will usually ask me to knead because of the muscle it requires. By the time I’ve been kneading bread for a couple of hours, my pecs and biceps will be sore for days.” I put my arms around Rose from behind, put my hands into the dough and began to knead, making sure my arm was in a position that it might accidentally brush against her chest.

“Umm … “ began Rose, “am I just supposed to stay here and watch?”

I chuckled. “No, Roza, but I just wanted to be close to you for a minute.”

“Roza,” she mused, as she leaned into me, “I like it when you call me that.”

Before I could help myself, I kissed the side of her neck, bringing my arms in closer to her. Roza leaned into me deeper and moaned, tilting her head to give me better access. I began kneading the dough harder, taking out my sexual frustrations on it, as I spread kisses along Roza’s neck and ear.

“This feels even better than I imagined,” she whispered, so low that I was sure I wasn’t meant to hear it, as I gently nipped at her earlobe.

My cock was now hard as an oak two by four, and Rose was pressing up against it. She was giving me shower and dream material for days to come.

I went to brush my arm against her as Ivan had suggested, but between kneading the dough and Rose unexpectedly moving forward into a new position, I managed to - quite forcefully - elbow Rose in the chest! 

Rose made an ‘oof’ sound letting me know that I had hurt her.

“Oh, my god, Rose! I am so sorry!” I said, stumbling through a clumsy apology. In a reflex action, I started to move my hand to try to rub her where I had just elbowed, but I caught myself and stopped before my hand was cupping her breast.

“It’s okay. Accidents happen,” she said, rubbing at the side of her breast. God, how I wanted to touch her there! “Just don’t do it again and we’re good, Comrade.” 

“Okay,” I told her. After that, I decided it was probably better that I just wait until the time when I would intentionally touch her. 

I continued kneading the bread for the rest of the ten minutes Mama’s instructions said to knead it for, with Rose in my arms the whole time. I kissed her neck again a few more times and kept her close, while still trying not to poke her too much with my insistent erection.

As I began to pull my hands out of the dough, Rose picked up her wine glass and drew deeply from it before she turned in my arms to look me in the eyes. Her eyes were so beautiful. In them, I saw hope, expectation, and desire. She threaded her arms around my neck, unfastening the tie from my hair.

Yes! This was it! I was about to have her right here on the kitchen counter! 

Oh, shit! This is too soon. Rose isn’t ready. And _I’m_ not ready. I want her, but this is my first time. It needs to be special.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since the moment I met you, Roza,” with strength I didn’t know I had, I told her, “but I want to do this right. I don’t want to go too fast with you. This needs to be about more than just the physical. You deserve to be romanced. I want to _impress _you before I try to _undress _you.”

“But you’ve thought about undressing me?” she asked, her eyes twinkling.

“Constantly,” I told her, before I could stop myself. 

“Good,” she said, echoing my earlier statement, and then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine. Her lips were so soft and warm and sweet and I deepened the kiss, bringing my tongue out to ask for entrance. She opened her mouth and massaged my tongue with hers, before she pulled away and smiled at me, “but that’s enough for now, just knowing that you want to. I can wait to save the actual _doing _for another day.”

She gave my lips another light peck and asked, “So I can stay here, wrapped in your arms and pressed up between the kitchen counter and _this_,” she pointedly rubbed her hips up against mine, subtly letting me know my excitement had not gone unnoticed, giving my cock the delicious friction it had been craving since the moment I rang the doorbell, “and we can chance that one of us doesn’t get to the point that we just can’t wait any longer, or you can let me out of here and we can both move onto the next thing I can do to help make dinner.”

I couldn’t help myself as I let out a groan and moved on to the recipe for stroganoff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you all think of the first half of Rose and Dimitri’s date? Did it live up to the hype? Please drop me a review if you loved (or hated) it.  
Expect loads more awkwardness and steamy sexual tension in the second half. And just wait until they get to the book. For those of you who want a little preview, the book they’ll be using is an actual book I own: “The Book of Questions - Love & Sex” by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.


	10. The Book of Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vampire Academy: Not mine.  
Beta Readers: None here.  
Playing Adult: Filled with dirty, dirty stuff. Don’t judge. Don’t read if you’re underage.

“Dimitri, I honestly didn’t even think I liked stroganoff before I had this! It was amazing!” Rose told me, as she inelegantly swiped her finger across her plate. Once it was coated in the small amount of sauce that she’d left behind with her silverware, she brought her finger up to her mouth. 

I was speechless as I watched Rose lick and suck the sauce from her finger. I was already hard as a rock all through dinner and what she was doing was definitely not helping. And I was one hundred percent sure from the way that Roza was looking at me as she did it and the things she was doing with her lips and tongue, that the way she was licking and sucking that finger was _purely _to turn me on more. It was working.

“Dimitri?” Rose asked, sitting there with a wicked smile on her face.

“Huh?” I asked, unaware of anything but my aching shaft and her luscious mouth. And thoughts of her luscious mouth on my aching shaft.

“The stroganoff?”

“Oh,” I replied, “I’m glad you liked it. Unlike the bread, that’s one of the recipes my Mama is willing to share. I’ve been making it since she would let me handle cooking.”

“Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to have me help,” Rose offered, “I feel like I learned a few things tonight.”

“I bet you could even make it on your own now,” I chuckled, smiling at her.

“Not a chance, Comrade,” she told me, “I’ll just have to keep you around so that you can make it for me more often.”

I feel like this woman had my emotions running the full gamut every time I was with her. One minute, I was aroused beyond comprehension, the next I was laughing, and _now _… my amused grin turned serious as I replied, “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.” 

I want to marry this woman. She’s so incredible.

Rose stood up and walked around the table, sitting down in my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck. Her ass was right up against my hard manhood and it felt so good. Rose leaned in and brought her lips to mine, gently nipping and running her tongue along my bottom lip. As my tongue came in contact with hers, my arms circled her waist and pulled her close. Rose moaned low and throaty and her full, luscious breasts pressed up against my chest. I was breathing in the warmth of her breath and her tongue was tickling mine. My hand ran up her spine to run through her silky hair as the other gripped her waist more tightly, clutching her to me.

Just when I thought - and hoped - that the moment would never end, the timer in the kitchen beeped, drawing us both out of what we were doing.

I pulled away from her kiss and blinked a few times, saying, “It’s time to bake the bread now.”

Rose got up off from my lap, giving me just enough time to surreptitiously adjust my erection while she was turned the other way. Then, I got up and we walked to the kitchen, hand in hand. 

Rose began preheating the oven while I put the bread into the first pan to bake, then I turned back to see her sitting on the kitchen counter with Ivan’s bright pink paperback open in her hands. “I wondered what this was,” said Rose, mischief lighting on her face. Ivan had tucked a sheet with ‘instructions’ on it inside the cover of the book and she was reading them now.

“My best friend lent that to me for tonight,” I told her, “he can be a little …”

I struggled for the right word when Rose interrupted, holding the page up, saying, “Crass?”

I laughed and nodded, “Yes, he can be a bit crass sometimes. I guess I’d prefer to think of him as ‘direct’. He means well. And most of his ideas usually have merit. What do his instructions say?”

Rose handed the sheet to me.

** _Dimitri,_ **

** _Go through the book and pick random questions by number. Each of you take turns asking the other a question. You can both answer each question picked, or you can each answer something different. The whole point of this is to really get to know one another, so you each have to commit to answer honestly and try to answer as many as possible. If either of you come across something you’re uncomfortable answering or a question that’s just boring or doesn’t fit, pick a new number and try again. _ **

** _If you come across something really personal that your girl is uncomfortable answering, assume the worst and get out while you still can. She's probably got some skeletons in her closet._ **

** _I know how much you care about this girl. This book has gotten me laid multiple times. Chicks eat this stuff up. Don’t blow this. _ **

** _-Ivan_ **

Rose had already started looking through the book. “So, do we want to do this?” she asked.

“It’s up to you. You don’t have to. Do you want to?”

“Sure, let’s give it a try. If we don’t like it, we’ll just quit and do something else. Here goes nothing,” she replied.

I asked, “Who goes first?”

“Pick a number, Comrade.”

“I don’t know what to pick,” I told her.

“What’s your birthday?”

“November twenty-sixth,” I said, “but the numbers don’t go up that high to eleven twenty-six. I was due on December second, though.”

“Okay. One twenty-two it is, then,” Rose flipped to the page and asked, “Will you ever be too old to fall head-over-heels in love? If so, when and why?”

I thought for a minute. “Yes and no. I believe that everyone gets their one true love. I’d like to think that once I know I’ve found the love of my life, I will love her for the rest of my life and be head-over-heels for her until the day I die.” 

I finished putting the bread in the second pan and washed my hands, asking, “Are you going to answer the same question, or should we pick a new one?”

Rose smiled and said, “Let’s stick with both answering each question. I actually think my answer would be the same. I feel like I have a soul mate somewhere out there. I’m going to love him forever.” Rose looked into my eyes as she added, “Then again, maybe I’ve already met him and I just don’t know it yet.” Before I had time to think more about what she said, she tossed me the book, saying, “My birthday is March twenty-first, but I don’t think the numbers go up that high, either, so let’s do two twenty-one. I didn’t peak at the question.”

“What is the most open discussion of sex you have had with your parents or siblings?” I asked. Dread filled me as I thought of the conversation with Viktoria from Thursday morning.

Rose smiled at me and said, “This book sure doesn’t pull any punches, does it? When Lissa and I left for Portland, I’d never met my father. He has a lot of money and used his resources to have us found and brought back. When he returned me home, he had stayed the night and my mom was … _grateful _... in a very _physical _way. I had a very long talk with them that morning. I’d wanted the discussion to be mostly about boundaries and discretion, but they were surprisingly - disturbingly - open about it all. It was maybe the most awkward conversation I’d ever had with anyone. I felt more like a parent to them than vice versa. You?”

I groaned as I admitted, “This actually happened yesterday morning. I had a … umm … rather … _vigorous _dream and my sister Viktoria caught me trying to get rid of the evidence.”

“Vigorous?” Rose asked, her expression confused.

“It was … umm … _productive_?”

“Oh! Oh, my!” Rose’s eyes were suddenly lit with comprehension, as if someone turned on a lightbulb in her head. “And what, exactly, were you dreaming about?”

Chills went up and down my spine, heat shooting straight to my aching shaft, as I admitted, “The beautiful woman who kissed me after dinner tonight.”

“You think I’m beautiful?” she asked.

How could I _not _think she was beautiful? Lately, I’d lost all ability to temper my words with reason when it came to Roza. Staring into her exotic, dark eyes, I blurted out, “So beautiful, it hurts me sometimes.”

Rose took her hand and fanned herself, then got down off of the counter and walked to the refrigerator. “Is it hot in here? I think the air conditioning isn’t turned up high enough. How about another glass of wine?” 

I’d already had three and would have to go home to Randall within the next couple of hours. For being an angry drunk, my father could be remarkably hypocritical about the idea of my drinking. “I better not,” I told her, teasing, “I don’t need to get drunk and have you take advantage of me, Roza.”

“Well, in that case,” she said as she leaned in to press a kiss to my lips, “Well maybe just one more glass for each of us, then. So I don’t take advantage of you, Comrade.” She finished with a wink, then turned and poured us each another glass of wine and pulled herself back up onto her seat on the counter.

I set my glass down and handed Rose the book and asked, “How do we pick what number next?”

“How about your lucky number?” she asked, “Do you have one?”

“I guess sixty-three,” I replied. That was my jersey number when I played football.

Rose looked at the question and chuckled. “Oh-ho-ho, Comrade,” she said, “You picked a good one. Roughly how many times a day do sexual thoughts come into your mind in an average day?”

Before I could stop my mouth, I asked Rose, “Before or after I met you?” Those three glasses of wine were definitely starting to affect me.

Rose smirked. “Let’s hear both answers.”

“Before, on average, maybe once every three to four hours. Since then, probably once or twice an hour. More when I’m with you, though.”

Rose’s eyes darkened as she looked at me, weighing my response. “Wow, Comrade, we have to get your mind out of the gutter! For me, probably two to three times a day before I met you. Maybe a bit more since then.”

I moved close to where Rose sat on the counter, coming to stand between her knees. “How much more?” I asked her, bringing my hand up to cup the side of her face, feeling her soft skin and silky hair.

“When you’re not with me, maybe once every two to three hours.” I ran my thumb along Rose’s bottom lip as she let out a little sigh. “When you are, it’s hard to stop.” I leaned in and kissed her again, letting my tongue caress hers. 

As Rose began to moan again, I pulled away, knowing that this was no way to keep from touching her until after the third date, and picked up the book. “What’s your lucky number, Roza?” I asked her.

“I guess, if anything, I’m more _un_lucky than lucky, so maybe thirteen,” she offered. I looked at the question. “It says, ‘In what ways do you and your partner compete with each other?’ It doesn’t really ‘fit’ for us.”

“Yeah, not really,” Rose agreed, “Let’s try one-thirteen, then?”

I glanced at the question and shuddered. “Do you reach a more intense orgasm through intercourse, oral sex, masturbation, or having a partner touch you? I’m not sure I want to answer this question. It might be too personal.” Not to mention I hadn’t tried three out of four of those.

Rose smiled, “It _is _a really personal question, but I’ll answer it. I guess the most personal part is the admission of which of those you’ve done, especially masturbation. But I guess that has to be my answer. I’ve never come by someone else’s hand.” 

I sat there in shock for a moment at her words. “Never?”

“Never,” she reiterated, putting her arms back around me as she added, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to try.”

Fuck, this woman was so eager for me to take her! How was I going to keep my hands off of her for another week?

“How about we choose another question?” I asked, “Maybe we just flip a couple of pages and pick one?” I handed her the book.

“One-eighteen,” she began, “When and where did you lose your virginity, and since then what has been the longest time you’ve ever gone without sex?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose. “And now you’ll start to see why I had such trouble with the last question,” I told her, “I wasn’t joking last week when I told you I was a virgin, Rose. I’ve never been with a woman before.”

“Wow,” she said, leaving the word just hanging in the air.

“Yeah,” I said, “‘Wow’.”

“So, what’s the furthest you’ve gone, then? And how come you haven’t?”

“I’ve had a girl’s shirt part-way off before, but that’s about it. I just haven’t found the right person to want to go all the way before. I’ve had the opportunity to go further a couple of times, but it just didn’t feel right.”

“So you’ve never had your pants off with a girl before?”

“No, never. But that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to try,” I told her, repeating back her same words, meaningfully eyeing her, hoping she’d pick up the dual meaning there, “And you’re kind of avoiding your own answer to the question - aren’t you?”

Rose laughed lightly, “Yeah, I sort of am. I was actually twenty, but I’d just graduated high school. My ex-boyfriend Jesse invited me over to a start-of-year party at his college dorm room and when I got there, it was just the two of us. It was all over kind of fast before I really realized it had happened. Jesse and I … well, it wasn’t the best relationship, but we went out for a couple of years after that. We’ve been broken up for almost three years. Since him, I haven’t been with anyone else.”

“So, how do we choose the next question?” I asked, trying to break the tension.

“What’s the oven temp?” she asked.

I looked over at the digital display and said, “Two-nineteen.”

“Sounds like a good question number,” Rose said.

“Why don’t you read this one?” I asked, “Mama’s directions say I can toss the bread in anytime after the temperature reaches two hundred.”

Rose turned to the new page and asked, “Have you ever loved someone you didn’t respect? If so, did it make you respect yourself any less?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in love before,” I told her, silently appending ‘before you’ to that, “but I loved my father for a very long time and I don’t respect him. He used to be pretty abusive my mom and my sisters. It definitely made me feel like there was something wrong with me or that I might be a bad person to love him and want his love when I knew how much he was hurting people.”

“I’m so sorry, Dimitri. I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like,” Rose said.

“They weren’t married when my sisters and I were born. We lived in Russia then. My mother thought she loved him and tried to make it work when I was eight. She finally stood up for herself when I was twelve and left him. Randall knows better than to hurt any of us anymore. And I know better than to think I love him now.”

“That’s really brave of you to have gone through that,” she told me, “So why do you keep visiting his house if you don’t really like him?”

“It was part of my parents’ divorce proceedings,” I told her, “He agreed to pay for each of my sisters and I to go through private school and college as long as the four of us all came to visit him each weekend. Until I each of us turned eighteen, it was court-mandated that we visit him, but afterwards, it just seemed to make sense to let him pay. It’s not like he really spends time with me when I come over, anyways. What about you, Rose? Have you ever loved someone you didn’t respect?”

“I thought I was in love with Jesse. That’s why I stayed with him for two years. He was always telling me things that made me feel completely worthless. I didn’t even know he was cheating on me the whole time, either. I drew the line when I caught him ramming my roommate Natalie up against the headboard in my bed, though. I’m glad to be away from him.”

“I’m glad you’re out, too, Rose. I don’t like it when guys think that they can treat women like that. Selfishly, though, I’m glad you’re away from him because that means you’re free to see other people, too.”

Rose grinned at me. “Thanks, Dimitri. I’m starting to be pretty glad I’m free to see other people, too.”

“Which question now?” I asked.

“What time is it?” she replied, answering a question with a question.

“Eight thirty-five,” I said, looking at the clock on the microwave.

“So, thirty-five, it is,” she said, tossing me the book.

I smiled when I saw the question. “If you learned that a fifty-year-old woman was engaged to a man of twenty-one, what would your first reaction be? How would you feel differently if the ages were reversed?”

“I like this question, Comrade. I guess it’d be a little scandalous, but I think age is really all just relative, so I don’t think it really matters. I guess I’d honestly just think, ‘good for her’. There’s actually a ten year age difference between my parents - and I don’t know if Christian mentioned it, but Lissa and I met him when he was teaching our class. Lissa kept staying after and going to his office for little ‘study sessions’ until I started to get really suspicious. They kept it all very hush-hush until we weren’t in his class anymore, but they’re eight years apart. I think that you love who you love and the important thing is what you feel. Unless - of course - it’s illegal or something. Not that I’d want my forty-five-year-old mom or my fifty-five-year-old dad dating someone my age, either, though. What about you, Comrade?”

I laughed and then joked, “Are you asking me if I want to date your mom? Because I’d much rather date you.”

Rose grinned, “How would you feel about the thirty-year age difference?”

“It’s a big gap,” I said, “but I think that when you know you love someone, you just know.”

“Yes, you do,” Rose said, looking into my eyes. God help me, I love this woman!

She tossed me the book, saying, “Wanna go with thirty-six?”

I opened it up and asked, “Would you rather have a strikingly attractive partner who was disappointing in bed or a plain-looking one who was fantastic in bed?”

“That’s a tough one. I guess I don’t really think it matters if the person is good or if he is attractive, as long as we cared about each other. Looks or skills in bed are all really just a bonus if you’ve got that. If I had to choose one, though, I’d probably pick the one who is plain-looking and good in bed.”

“You know that I might not be any good, since I’ve never done it before,” I told her, honestly.

“Is that really what you think, Comrade?” she asked, “I hope that’s not what’s holding you back with me.”

“It might be part of it,” I told her, “But it’s not the only thing.”

“At least you’re concerned with how you’ll do,” she said, “The things I might like in bed are all very teachable. Besides, if your kissing is any indication, you’ve already got the upper hand over my ex. So what about you? Amazing-looking and bad in bed, or plain-looking and amazing in bed?”

I picked up my forgotten glass of wine and downed it in one big swig, drinking in the liquid courage. “Well, I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you and you look amazing,” I told her, “I don’t think it’s fair to expect that you’re completely perfect.”

Rose smiled, yanking the book out of my hands. “So, what else is holding you back with me?” she asked.

Christian’s words echoed in my mind. _She’s not ready for that._ “I just want to be sure it’s right,” I told her, “I know it’s probably too soon to say something like this, but Ivan knew what he was talking about in his note when he said that I care about you, Roza. I’ve never met a woman like you before. I don’t want to screw this up by having sex too soon. Especially since it’s my first time.”

“You’re just too good to be true; aren’t you, Dimitri?” She looked into my eyes. “What are you hiding, Mr. Belikov?”

“Evidently, not much,” I told her, recalling how she had known about my erection earlier, “but I’m sure that everyone’s entitled to a few secrets.”

Rose grinned as she pulled me in for another hungry kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this turned into a really long chapter, which was NOT my intention at all. I think this chapter is about twice as long as every other chapter in this story so far, but it was just difficult to find a good stopping point and I was really hoping to get through their entire date - which did NOT happen, either.  
What’d you think of the questions? Are there any you’d like to answer yourself? Did any of them really strike you? Do you think I got their answers ‘right’ for the characters?  
For reference,the book is “The Book of Questions: Love & Sex” by Gregory Stock, Ph. D. For those of you who have a partner who’s willing to answer the questions, I would really recommend it. This book can really help to increase your emotional intimacy as a couple and spark some really frank conversations. I took some liberties with a few of the questions’ wording, and omitted a few follow-up questions but the numbers and the general meaning of the questions are accurate.  
My beta was sent chapter 40 of Building the Tension yesterday, so I’m hoping to post that in the next day or two.  
Do you guys think I should open a social media account (Facebook or Twitter) like I’ve seen a couple of other fan fiction authors do? I know they’ve had some mixed results, but I was thinking it might give me a chance to post some things like, “I’m working on the next chapter now,” or “Here’s a sneak preview of what’s coming,” as well as not having to post so much about status in the author notes at the bottom of these things.


	11. Psyching Myself up to Face You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be aware that this story has a lot of filth in it.  
The storyline is the only thing that’s mine.  
I make mistakes. No one corrects them. Let me know if you see serious ones.

After a few minutes of kissing Rose non-stop, I felt the need to cool off for a minute to get my body to calm down, partially because was afraid I would start to leak so much that there was a wet spot on the front of my pants, and partially because I could only hold myself back from going further than just kissing for so long.

I pulled my lips away and stared into her hypnotic dark eyes. “Will you excuse me for a moment, Roza?” I asked her.

Rose was as breathless and dazed as I was. “Uh-huh,” she breathed, never breaking eye contact - and failing to close her mouth after she spoke.

I hurried to her bathroom and splashed water on my face. Looking in the mirror, I told myself, “Dimka, you’ve got this, buddy. You’re here with the girl of your dreams and she wants you. You want her. She’s willing to wait. You have time to prepare and you will get to have her eventually.”

“Dimitri?” Rose called through the door, “Are you talking to someone in there? Are you - are you _on the phone _in my bathroom?”

“Uh, no,” I told her, “I’m just … umm … uhh … planning what I’m going to say to you in my head!” _True, that is something I’ve done, too, but, oh, God, that is _so _not better._

“Planning what you’re going to say to me?” Rose asked, “Like rehearsing made-up stuff?” I could almost hear the scowl in her tone of voice. “Are you just pretending all of this to try to get in my pants?”

I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. Okay, time for blatant honesty. I opened the bathroom door and told her. “I just don’t want to say anything stupid in front of you. Sometimes words just come out of my mouth without stopping at my brain. Like how I am constantly thinking of undressing you. But honestly, that wasn’t even what I was doing. I just couldn’t come up with anything better to tell you.”

“Okay … So, what _were _you doing, then, Comrade?” she asked. Her eyes were alight with mischief. _What are you up to, Rose Mazur_?

I couldn’t look her in the eye. “I was psyching myself up to face you again,” I mumbled.

“What was that?” she asked.

_Oh, god, I have to say it again_! “I was psyching myself up to face you again,” I replied, nearly as quiet as the first time.

“I still couldn’t hear you, Comrade,” she told me, “Speak up a little.”

I blurted out, “I was psyching myself up to face you!”

Rose put her hand on the side of my face and tilted it up to face hers. “Are you uncomfortable being around me?” she asked.

“No. And yes. I don’t know,” I told her.

“You’re attracted to me, right?” she asked, “It’s not that I’m off-putting or something, is it?”

My mouth was hanging open at her utterly ridiculous question, “Of course, you’re not _off-putting_!”

“Then what is it?” she asked.

“You make me nervous,” I told her, “I’ve never been around a girl - woman - like you before.”

“What’s to be nervous of?” Rose asked me, “I’m just me.”

“I don’t want to mess this up by being me,” I tell her.

“Dimitri,” she says, looking directly into my eyes and bringing her face close to mine, “as long as you’re being yourself and you don’t have any weird skeletons in your closet, like being a necrophiliac or a pedophile or something, and as long as you’re not planning on being with anyone _else _anytime soon, you’ve already got me.” She gave my lips a gentle kiss, then pulled back and asked, “You’re not a pedophile, are you?”

“I’ve never dated someone more than a year younger than me,” I told her.

“And you aren’t dating anyone else?” she asked, kissing me again, grazing my tongue with hers for just a moment.

I ran my hands through her silky hair, cupping the back of her head as I pressed my body up against hers, feeling my hardness pressed up against her belly. So much for my erection calming down. I backed away, gasping, as I told her, “There’s no one. No one but you. I don’t know if there ever _will _be anyone else. I don’t want anyone else.”

Rose pressed her lips to mine again, surprising me with the fierce urgency of her kiss. “Dimitri, I want you,” she was practically begging.

I took a deep shaky breath, pulled back, and closed my eyes, for patience and restraint. “Not yet,” I told her.

“My bedroom is just right there,” she told me, motioning with her eyes, “I have a nice big king-sized bed. I bet even a giant like you would fit on it.” Rose giggled, looking at my feet and then the top of my head, then put both her arms around my waist.

“That’s funny,” I told her, “I don’t know why a midget like you would need such a big bed,” wrapping my arms back around her again.

“Maybe I’m just waiting for a handsome, tall Russian to share it with.”

I couldn’t help it. I groaned. I wanted her so badly. 

Then, the oven timer beeped.

“The bread’s supposed to be ready,” Rose said.

“I’d better get that,” I told her, “Mama would never forgive me if your first taste of Russian black bread was burnt.” I let go of Rose and walked down the stairs and back to the kitchen.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Rose said.

“What’s that?” I asked her, as I pulled the bread out of the oven.

“You got your mother’s recipes for tonight. And you talk like she has some expectations about me. Have you told your family about me, Dimitri?”

I felt my cheeks heating as I admitted, “Yes. My mama was the one who suggested I cook for you tonight.”

Rose smiled. “I can’t believe you already told your family about me. Every time I learn something new about you, I like you just a little bit more.”

Without thinking, I murmured a reply, “That’s okay. I think I’m already in love with you.”

“What was that, Dimitri?” she asked.

I had to think up something believable quick. “I said, ‘Could you hand me a bread knife? I think it’s above you.’”

“Sure,” she said, reaching up for the knife hanging on the magnetic strip on the side of the cupboard and handed it out, pointing the knife end towards me.

“You really don’t know much about being in a kitchen; do you?” I laughed as I repositioned the knife in her hand so that the handle was pointing towards me.

“Nothing,” she said.

“Generally-speaking, you’d probably want to hand someone a knife so that the handle is facing them,” I grinned. “Unless you really want to stab them.”

“Noted,” Rose said, “So why do you keep getting close to me with pointy things - well, _one _pointy thing?” She glanced down at the tent in my pants that I had ineffectively tried to camouflage.

“Maybe I really want to stab you with it,” I told her, taking the knife.

“And I keep telling you, Dimitri: stab away.” I groaned again as the knife slid into the hot loaf of bread.

I sliced two thick pieces of bread and asked Rose, “Now, where did I see that butter?” Rose pulled out a tub of whipped butter. “Perfect,” I told her, “It’s best to butter the bread and eat it while it’s really fresh. It’ll be hot to the touch, but it will be worth it.” I took a table knife out of the silverware drawer and buttered the two pieces of bread, handing her the first.

As her mouth closed on the soft, warm bread, Rose moaned again, letting her eyes close. I felt the jolt of her moan leading straight to my hardened member, causing another trickle of leakage to drip out of my tip. I sat there watching her as her little moans continued and her tongue shot out to lick the excess butter from her soft lips. “Could I have another, Dimitri?” she asked, looking at me like she was not talking about food.

Without waiting any longer, I shoved the whole piece of hot buttered bread into my mouth and then began frantically chewing. While I was chewing, I sliced and buttered another slice of bread for Rose.

Once I handed her the bread and swallowed, I said, “Rose, it has really been a wonderful night, but I should probably be going so that I can get some rest before I see you tomorrow. I can leave the rest of the bread here for you tonight and then I can help you with the dishes and get the pans tomorrow.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” she told me, “but what if I’m not ready to let you leave?”

I almost felt like I could hear my dick telling me, “Stay, Dimka. Stay, and get laid. You know you want to. You know she will.”

“I’d really better go,” I told her. _And take care of this little problem so that I can give her some time before I make it_ her _problem_.

“Okay, Dimitri,” she told me, “If you insist.” Rose pulled a plate down out of the cupboard and walked me to the door. 

As Rose leaned forward to kiss me, I stopped her, putting my fingers to her lips.

“What’s wrong, Comrade?” she asked. 

I told her, “If I kiss you now - I mean, _really _kiss you - I’m not going to be able to leave. And I need to. Roza, you have no idea what you do me.”

“Just a little kiss,” she told me, “A tiny one. Barely anything.”

“I don’t want to push my luck.”

“What if I push you out the door afterwards?” she asked me. 

I nodded. Rose wrapped her arms around me first, and I did the same, letting my fingers tangle into her silky dark hair. Breathing deeply, I leaned in. I planned to briefly brush my lips against hers, but there she was and I just couldn’t. I felt my tongue entering her mouth, tasting the sweetness of her lips, clutching her body to mine. Rose moaned as she pulled her body flush up against me, battling my tongue with her own. One of her hands dipped to my ass cheek and when she gave me a little squeeze, I pulled away, panting.

“Oh, god,” I told her, “I can’t leave.”

Rose was as breathless as I was, but she smiled at me. “Yes, you can, Dimitri. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She gave me another quick peck on the lips and pushed me out the door as she said she would.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Roza,” I told her, and then she closed the door.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

A part of me was hoping beyond hope that I would see Rose through my window as I had last Saturday night. A part of me was dreading the possibility that I might be seen, or that it might deepen my obsession with her. 

As I arrived ‘home’ at Randall’s house, he grumbled that I was staying there over the weekend but barely spending any time with him. Really, what he wanted was for me to do some of his household chores. Not that I could complain, considering I did a lot of household chores for Mama and Babushka at home, and he _was _paying for my tuition at St. Vladimir’s, but he was more than capable of doing his own work. After doing Randall’s dishes and vacuuming the living room, I promised to wash his car and mow the lawn on Saturday. I trudged upstairs fatigued by the very full day and went straight to my room. 

As before, Rose’s window was open and her bedside lamp was on. She was laying on the bed with the St. Vladimir’s t-shirt on and her phone in her hands. If she had been doing what she had done last week, I must have already missed it, which was good and bad. 

I decided it was probably better to be forthright with her about what the view from my window looked like than have her find out later on her own. I went back to the light switch and turned the light on, expecting her to look up and see me. 

When she didn’t look up, I picked up my phone and sent her a text: “Look out your window! :-)”

Rose looked up and gave me a smile as dazzling as the sun. She texted back, “I didn’t know that was your room. This will definitely help me get a good night’s sleep now, knowing you’re close.”

I replied with, “It will make it harder for me to sleep, especially seeing you in that t-shirt.”

She smiled again as I watched her reading my text and followed shortly with, “It’s the most comfortable shirt I have. I’ve actually been thinking about you and looking for your picture. I can’t find you anywhere on the internet.”

Because we couldn’t afford a computer at home, I didn’t have any social media accounts, which I was usually resentful of, but right now I was grateful for, since it would probably make my age and school too difficult to hide. I replied back, “I don’t have any social media.”

Rose replied almost instantly with, “Take a picture for me, Comrade.”

I began to fiddle with my phone to take a selfie when another text from her came through. I opened it and it said, “With your shirt off, please :-)”

I pulled off my shirt, snapped the shot, and hit send before I could change my mind.

Rose smiled broadly and texted back a quick, “Thanks!” and then got up off of her bed and closed the shades. I groaned as I realized this meant no more clandestine viewing of her naked through the window, but before the shades were all the way down, I saw her hands at the hem of her shirt, lifting it.

Rose was getting undressed less than fifty feet away from me. And she had just received a photo of me without my shirt. 

About twenty minutes later, I got a text from Rose saying, “I think I’m really going to enjoy this picture. I can’t wait until our date tomorrow night, Comrade.”

“I can’t either,” I texted back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing chapter 12 today, thinking I was going to try to put it out this afternoon - and then I realized that I never published chapter 11 when I wrote it last weekend! Sorry for the delay on it, but hopefully I didn’t keep you waiting too long.  
I still haven’t gotten much feedback about creating a social media account for my writing. I honestly get tired of writing (or reading) authors’ notes about chapters being or early at the bottom of a story, especially if I’m reading them weeks or months after it was originally written and it would be a good way to keep those out of the stories. Let me know if you agree or if you’d rather see them in these author notes.  
I set up an account on FictionPress over the past week. My username over there is AdelineMyles (not my real name, but I’ve known for a while that was going to be my pen name). I’m hoping to put the first chapter of my original novel out over there and on ArchiveOfOurOwn in the next 2-3 weeks. I started writing the story in 2012 and it’s about two-thirds of the way written at 8 chapters right now (180-ish pages in Microsoft Word), so that’s actually a fairly substantial hunk of the story. Each chapter has 3-4 long-ish sub-chapters in it, which I may or may not break out separately for the sites.


	12. Twisted Up over You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’ve made it this far, do you even really still need the disclaimers? You know what you’re in for.

I had a long morning. It was another eighty degree day and I spent a good portion of time outdoors washing Randall’s car, mowing the lawn, and doing yard-work in my shorts. It was hot enough that I had been working without a shirt on, but I was still working up a good sweat. I kept getting the feeling I was being watched, but I tried to ignore it. 

Around noon, the U.P.S. truck pulled up with a package from Amazon for me. 

Twister.

Randall decided that today would be the day that he would have me rearrange all of the furniture in the house. If it weren’t for the fact that he was great at staying out of Mama’s life and our family really needed his financial support, I probably would’ve told him were to shove his furniture instead of moving it for him. I’d gotten big enough several years ago that he knew not to try to hit me, but he’d prey upon my sense of duty to get me to do what he wanted.

Doctor Ozera’s class had ended for the year, but I still had his final exam to study for and all of my work from my normal high school classes. Once I was done rearranging furniture, I was left with three hours to get my homework done, so I went right to it.

My date with Rose was supposed to be five o’clock. Our plan was that we’d be at her house for a few hours and I’d provide the entertainment there, then we’d get fast food take-out. Rose told me last night that she couldn’t cook, but she said that she was willing to be sensitive to my budget. 

After seeing her choices of food at her house, I was under the impression that fast food and chocolate were probably her preference and also made up the bulk of her daily diet. It amazed me that a woman with such a toned body could eat such unhealthy food all the time, but she also told me that she ran five miles a day and worked out several times a week. It wasn’t like she had a strangely-muscled body like some fitness competitor or anything, but she was definitely stronger than I’d expect from a girl of five and a half feet tall and a hundred-twenty-ish pounds. Her bench press still couldn’t rival mine, but few people’s bench presses could.

After how hot and heavy things got last night, I thought about taking the time to ‘relieve some pressure’ before our date, but time was running too short for that. I hurried through a quick shower to take the sweat off and shaved, throwing on some clean dry-fit shorts and a tank top as I prepared to rush over to Roza’s house. 

Despite the fact that it likely was one, I couldn’t bring myself to call it a wife-beater because of the abuse connotation. I couldn’t avoid living with Randall yet, but I would do everything in my power to keep from turning out like him.

As I knocked on Rose’s door with the games in my hands at four fifty-seven, I belatedly realized that the shorts were very thin and would do nothing to conceal my inevitable erection. I thought to myself, _Maybe I could pull them down a little and tuck it into my waistband if I get one. My shirt is long enough to cover that_.

When Rose came to the door, the smile on her beautiful face nearly left me speechless. “Dimitri,” she cooed, “Come on in. I’m running a few minutes late, but you can have a seat on the couch.” Rose was wearing a long, loose-hanging, low-cut top with a pair of leggings that hugged her curves just right.

I nodded, put the bag of games down on the end table by the door, and sat on the couch, noticing that Rose’s phone was laying on the table, screen up. Rose ran upstairs and I heard water running. After a minute or so, Rose’s phone beeped, drawing my attention. I knew I shouldn’t read what it said, but it was right there in front of me. It said:

** _Text Message from Lissa:_ **

** _I think you SHOULD just go without them for your date tonight. Dimitri will like it._ **

Before I could be tempted to read any more of Roza’s private conversations, I flipped the phone over so that the screen was facing down.

When Rose walked down the stairs again, I noticed her clothes again. Those leggings hugged her like a second skin. I gulped.

“Your phone was beeping while you were upstairs,” I told her, pointing at it from a distance.

Rose picked up the phone and looked at the screen, then pushed a few buttons and held the phone up, using speech to text, while looking at me. “I did. I hope he _will_ like it,” she said, giving me a wink.

“What was that for?” I asked her.

“You’ll find out later,” she told me, walking over to the front table to get my bag, “So, what’s in the goodie bag you brought tonight, Comrade?”

“Games,” I told her as she opened the bag, “Pick what you would like to play. Or if you’d rather, I can pick one.”

Rose laughed as she began picking through the bag. “Sorry! I haven’t played that in ages! Oh, look, and Candyland! I don’t think I’ve played that since Liss and I were in kindergarten. Oh, but _Monopoly_? Really? Do you hate me _that much_?”

I shook my head and laughed as she kept going through the bag. I’d raided my family’s closet at home and brought every game we had with me this weekend. Many of them were children’s games. I wasn’t sure if I was dreading or excited by the idea of Roza and I playing Twister together.

As Rose came to the box of Twister at the bottom of the bag, she gasped. She picked up the game and held it in front of her, staring at it. I sat there wondering if it was a good thing or a bad one. 

Then, Rose’s lips curled into a devious, wicked grin. “Oh, we’re _so _playing this one first,” she exclaimed as she began opening the box.

“I just got that one,” I told her, adding, “It was a gift from Ivan,” hoping she’d picked up on the fact that sometimes my best friend was the bearer of all of the pervy things in my life.

“Have you ever played before?” she asked, kicking off her shoes and spreading the mat across the floor.

“A couple times at Ivan’s house,” I told her, “it’s been a while, though.”

“Do you remember how to play?” she asked. 

“Yes,” I said, handing her the spinner and moving to one side of the board.

Rose began stretching on the floor and said, “I’m going to kick your ass with this one, Comrade. It’s on now.”

Rose’s phone chimed again. She picked it up, looked over the message, smiled, and set it back down again. “Lissa likes you,” Rose said, picking the spinner back up and flicking the arrow, then saying, “Left hand green.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

Five minutes into the game, we paused long enough for Rose to download a Twister spinner app that calls the colors and body parts out loud so that one of us wouldn’t have to be the one to spin while playing the game. It’d been proven absolutely necessary a few moves later when all four limbs were on the board.

After fifteen minutes, four things became crystal clear to me. First, Rose was amazingly flexible and limber, getting her body into any position with ease. Second, she was wearing a gauzy see-through bra that made her perfect breasts perfectly and clearly on display from the wide open neckline of her blouse. Third, there was no way I could hide my erection in these shorts, especially while playing twister. And fourth, no matter how strong I was, Rose was going to win this game.

Five minutes later, reaching around, the unthinkable - stuff of wet dreams - had happened when I reached in front of Rose, whose back was to me, to try to put my hand on a red circle and accidentally slid it into Rose’s neckline. My palm grazed her nipple just long enough that I was able to feel her pebbled flesh and Rose let out a sharp intake of breath. 

Her soft, round breast felt incredible up against my hand and her nipple was every bit as erect as my cock was quickly becoming. For a moment, I felt like I should try to start touching her breast the way I had seen her touch it, teasing and caressing her soft flesh, but I quickly ruled that out, remembering that we hadn’t yet even finished our third date. My body wanted her like never before, but my brain wanted to make this right, both for her and for me. I tried not to think about it as I quickly retracted my hand and gave a hasty apology, but Rose merely gave a groan.

Which brings us to the thirty minute point: I was all but on my back, with my right and left hands on red, with my right hand being in the first circle after the corner of the board, my right foot was on yellow, and my left foot on green. Rose was nearly perched on top of me, her left hand sandwiched on the circle between the two circles my hands were on, my left leg sandwiched between hers, face down, and giving me this smile that could only be described as man-eating.

“Left hand blue,” the app called out. I was now completely on my back and Rose’s arms were on either side of me. 

After getting into position, she kissed my cheek and said, “Cheer up, Comrade. I won’t tell anyone you were beaten by a girl.”

The app called out, “Left foot yellow.”

It took some finagling to get my foot on the yellow, with my knees bent back so that my feet were underneath me, and as I did, Rose positioned herself so that her body was completely on top mine, her legs straddling me and her arms on either side of my head. 

“You know,” she said, with a wicked smirk, “I could just put all of my weight on you right now and let you do all of the work to keep us upright.”

“Go for it,” I told her, confident I could support her small amount of weight. 

Confident until I realized that almost her entire body would be pressed up against mine. She leaned into me and began kissing me. I crumbled to the mat as I tried to move away to keep her from feeling exactly how aroused I was, but Roza just followed me down, straddling my hips with her own and deepening the kiss. Her tongue was meeting mine and massaging it. I wrapped my arms around her, tangling my fingers into her hair and clutching at her hip.

I couldn’t believe how hot her core felt, even through the layers of fabric between us. It could’ve been my imagination, but I could have sworn that she even felt wet. It felt so exciting to have her hot and wet pressed up against my hard dick. 

And then she began grinding her hips against me. 

Roza’s hips were slow at first, but she began thrusting with abandon, moaning into my mouth. She used the strong muscles of her hips and legs to move her core along my length in these fabulously slow-then-quick little circles, pressed so hard against me. The friction was amazing, but I could absolutely tell she was _definitely _wet. _Why could I feel that so well through all of this fabric_?

As Rose began moving her lips down to kiss my jaw, I moved my lips to nip at the spot on her neck that I had found while I was kissing it in the kitchen cooking together the night before. 

Rose ran her hand down my arm until she got to my hand, and then pulled it to the hem of her shirt. “Dimitri, touch me, please,” she asked, pulling my hand up into the front of her shirt, “I want you to touch me everywhere.”

My dick felt as though it was harder than it had ever been when she said that. I slid my hands up her abs, feeling the softness of her skin, until I was at the bottom of her bra. The point of no return. “Are you sure about this, Roza?” I asked her.

“Yessss...” she replied, half-way between a whisper and a soft moan.

As my hand began to ascend the cup of her bra, Roza said, “Hold on. It’s a front hook.” She sat up, still pressing her center against me, and reached in to the front of her shirt, then returned back to kissing me, pulling my hands back into her shirt. As I moved my hands back to where they were, no bra was in my way. My hands worked their way up as Rose returned to sliding her hips against me. 

Then it happened. I felt the amazing feel of a woman’s bare breast for the first time. Roza’s bare breast. It was so indescribable. I would remember that moment for as long as I live. I began pulling and teasing at her nipple just as I had seen Roza do to herself and her moans went from soft to loud.

“Oh, god!” Roza purred from on top of me as I kissed and nipped at her neck, feeling her wet center stroking my shaft through my thin shorts, “I think I’m going to come and you haven’t even gotten my pants off yet! I can’t even believe how wet you’ve got me!”

Lost in the bliss of the physical sensation, all I could manage was, “Uh-huh.”

“I guess now I should tell you what I was texting Liss about you liking,” she murmured, as I began kissing her cleavage.

“Uh-huh,” I uttered again, utterly unable to focus on anything but pleasure.

Rose continued, “I’m not wearing any panties under these leggings, Comrade. Can you feel how wet I am?”

I groaned out, realizing just how close her hot, wet honeypot was to my being inside it. Rose’s hips sped up as her moans got louder and her movements began to get jerky and erratic. The feel of her atop me was so good and my own moans were getting louder, too. 

Then, I realized Rose wasn’t the only one who was close to coming. I took my hands and clamped down on both of her hips, trying to still the movements of her luscious core against me, but Rose was too close and couldn't be stopped. The extra pressure of my grip only seemed to make her thrust more. She moved her hips harder, pressing against me even deeper.

“Oh, god, Dimitri, I’m coming!” she cried out as she gave a final thrust of her hips, nearly burying the head of my shaft inside her, through the fabric, on the final push. I shuddered, feeling so few layers of such thin fabric between us. 

As I watched the enticing look of pleasure on her beautiful face when she came crying out my name, my eyes went wide and I realized in stunned horror that she wasn’t the only one who was coming. Rose gave my lips a soft, brief kiss, put her arms around my neck, and fell limp on top of me, kissing my neck softly. Never before had I been this close to burying myself inside a woman, and here I was, coming in my pants. 

As I felt the last drops of semen pumping out of me, I started freaking out. What would Rose think of this? 

“Comrade, would you like me to return the favor?” Rose whispered in my ear, sitting up and letting her hand trail down along my stomach.

_Oh shit! I can’t let her find out that I came in my pants_!

“Oh, god!” I told her, “Rose, I’m so sorry. I just remembered something really urgent that I have to take care of, right now!”

Rose looked a little bewildered, but moved to the side and stood up.

As soon as Rose stood, I headed straight for the door. “I really enjoyed our time together so far tonight, Roza,” I told her, “I’ll be back in less than half an hour, I promise!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, poor, poor, poor Dimitri. He just can’t seem to win with Rose, even when he does.  
Sorry to say that I was out of town this past weekend, but I managed to put in some extra writing time tonight. With Halloween this week, I might have some extra responsibilities at home, so I might be a little delayed, but hopefully I can get another chapter out by Sunday afternoon. I’m still working on whether or not I’m going to do the whole social media thing, so let me know your thoughts. And let me know what you thought of the chapter.


	13. A Mess to Clean Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Vampire Academy.  
‘Parental discretion’ advised.  
I have no beta for this story.

As I rushed into the house, I was hoping to God that Randall wouldn’t see me come in. Hoping. Boy, was that hope in vain.

“Dimka, what the hell are you doing home already?” he asked as he walked towards the entryway from the living room, “And what the hell happened to your pants, boy?”

I looked down at my shorts. My quickly-flagging erection was still sticking out like a sore thumb - well, bigger than a thumb, but it was getting smaller and less noticeable by the second - and there was a dark, slickened wet spot all over the front of it. “I don’t want to talk about it, Randall,” I told him.

“Dimitri, boy, you better show your father some respect,” he told me, slamming me in the back of the shoulder as I started to walk up the stairs, “even if you are running up the stairs like your ass is on fire with your little baby dick hanging out looking like you just peed yourself or something. God knows you didn’t get that tiny pecker from me!” 

Like the snap of a rubber band pulled too tight, something gave way inside me. I had had enough. I rounded on him, my eyes full of menace, gripping his wrist tightly in my fist and slamming his arm against the wall. I growled out, “Not. NOW!”

Randall wriggled his arm out of my grasp, backing away. The look of fear on his face, while so unfamiliar on _his _face, was so like the look I had seen hundreds of times before on my older sisters and my mama. I let my arm fall limp from his and paled. 

I wouldn’t hesitate to defend my family, but I wouldn’t let myself turn into him. Even against him, I couldn’t be the stronger person beating on the weaker one. It was important that I was the bigger man. I turned, leaving him standing there dumbstruck, ran up the stairs, and hurried to wash and change.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I was so, so tempted in the shower to let my thoughts rush to Rose again and spend just a little extra time, partially out of enjoyment from what had just happened at her house, and partially just to try to get the extra hormones out of my system, but I couldn’t take long. Roza was waiting on me.

As I stepped back onto Rose’s porch and rang the bell again, I prayed for a good excuse for what happened.

I knew from the lights on that Rose was still home, but Rose took much longer than expected to answer the door. When she finally did, she was holding one of the moving boxes I’d carried in last weekend, and looked more upset than I would have hoped.

“Dimitri,” she said, “I’m in the middle of unpacking the upstairs bathroom because Lissa has been nagging me to do it all week, but I can always finish the unpacking when we’re done. We should talk about what happened earlier now.”

This was what I had been dreading ever since I realized I was going to go off in my pants. Nothing good could come from discussing what had happened between us. I needed to cut this off quickly. And I couldn’t tell her the truth.

“Rose, I’m sorry I left earlier. Everything was just going so fast and I was - well - I was a little freaked out,” I said.

Rose frowned. Not the reaction I was expecting. Maybe she didn’t buy it. “I guess I just wasn’t ready for everything that happened,” I continued, “I’d just like to keep taking it slow for a little bit longer.” _For one more date, so I can be true to my word with Christian Ozera._

Rose’s frown deepened to a scowl. “So … what happens now?” she asked, picking up the moving box again, “Do you just go back home to your dad’s for the night? Maybe we see each other around or try again in a couple of weeks?”

“I’d still like to spend the rest of our date together tonight, Rose. Maybe we should find a nice board game to play, though.” _Something that won’t make my dick explode all over the inside of my pants._

“Why don’t we go ahead and eat some dinner together, then?” Rose asked, with a smile. I nodded.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

After we decided on a food order together, Rose placed a delivery order on her phone and headed back upstairs to finish on unpacking the bathroom. I offered to tag along, but she told me that there were, “too many feminine things that I don’t want you to see,” in there. I assured her that I had no problems with that after living with five women, but she was pretty insistent.

Rose’s phone chimed again. I called up to her: “Rose, your phone chimed! I think you have a new message!”

She called down the stairs, “It’s probably just the delivery guy saying he has our order and asking how to get here. Can you check on it for me?”

I turned her phone over, but the notification had already disappeared and the screen was locked. “The screen is locked!” I told her.

“Oh. It’s a backwards letter ‘L’ starting at the middle top dot,” she called back again.

I unlocked it and saw the notification. 

** _New Text Message from Lissa:_ **

** _Did Dimitri apologize? Maybe it’s not as bad as you think_ **

Oh, _blyat’_. It can’t be good

“It’s not the delivery guy,” I called back again.

“Okay, well, they will probably still have to text. I’ve still got maybe ten more minutes left up here.” 

I couldn’t resist this time. I clicked on the text message. 

There were pages of texts back and forth between them, all within the past few hours. I scrolled to the top and read.

** _Rose: OMG, Lissa, Dimitri is outside again!_ **

** _Rose: Lisssss, he has been SHIRTLESS! ALL DAY!_ **

** _Rose: WASHING. THE. CAR. _ **

** _Rose: Water dripping all over his hot body. I think I know where they get the phrase washboard abs from_ **

** _Rose: Screw 6 packs. The man has like a 12 pack! _ **

** _Lissa: Seriously, Rose, you’re acting like a teenage boy_ **

** _Rose: Pfft. It’s not like he can tell I’ve been ogling him all morning_ **

** _Lissa: Rose, if you keep staring, Dimitri is going to SEE you looking out the window at him, and then he WILL know_ **

** _Rose: I know. You’re right. I just can’t stop looking at him. _ **

** _Lissa: I thought you said that you weren’t going to have sex with him yet_ **

** _Rose: That was before last night, Lissa_ **

** _Lissa: I don’t want this to be Jesse all over again_ **

** _Rose: Dimitri’s not like that. Last night, HE was the one stopping ME from making moves_ **

** _Lissa: Really? He’s not gay, is he?_ **

I laughed out loud at that.

** _Rose: No, he’s not gay. He was sporting wood literally ALL night_ **

** _Lissa: Maybe he was thinking about Christian. There are a lot of pictures of him in our house._ **

** _Rose: And we kissed. A lot_ **

** _Lissa: Some people kiss someone they’re not attracted to just to stay in the closet_ **

** _Rose: He’s NOT gay_ **

** _Lissa: OK OK, if you say so_ **

** _Lissa: So what are you going to wear tonight?_ **

** _Rose: I was thinking of wearing the black poet blouse you got me last fall with my grey leggings_ **

** _Lissa: Ooh, that’s a great outfit for a date! Hot, but not like you’re trying too hard_ **

** _Rose: IKR? But those leggings are so tight. I don’t want to show pantyline._ **

** _Lissa: Wear a thong (*shrugging emoji*) _ **

** _Lissa: Or go without_ **

** _Rose: All my thong panties are in the wash_ **

** _Lissa: So? Go with option #2_ **

** _Rose: I can’t go without panties on only the third date! What will Dimitri think?_ **

** _Lissa: If you never take your pants off, he’ll never know, anyways_ **

** _Lissa: You could always tell him it’s laundry day when he finds no panties_ **

** _Rose: Oh shit! Dimitri is gonna be here in 15 minutes and I still have to brush my teeth _ **

** _Rose: I better just go get dressed._ **

** _Lissa: I think you SHOULD just go without them for your date tonight. Dimitri will like it._ **

** _Rose: I did. I hope he will like it_ **

It took me a moment as I realized that was the text that was the text Rose did speech to text on with me sitting here.

** _Rose: OMG Lissa he just left!_ **

** _Lissa: How did it go?_ **

** _Rose: Confusing, actually_ **

** _Lissa: How so?_ **

** _Rose: About 2 minutes ago, I had the 1st orgasm I’ve ever had with a guy_ **

** _Rose: I was seriously ready to fuck his brains out all night, but he just got up and walked out_ **

** _Lissa: And he’s already gone? That soon after?_ **

** _Rose: I even offered to return the favor! But he just LEFT!_ **

** _Lissa: Oh. This is bad. I’ll call and you can walk me through exactly what happened._ **

** _Lissa: But we have to make it quick and just stick to the story. Christian thinks I’ve just gone to pee_ **

** _Rose: OK_ **

** _Lissa: Rose, I hate to say it …_ **

** _Lissa: The whole thing almost sounds kinda 1-sided. I mean, you pretty much initiated everything. _ **

** _Lissa: What if his groans weren’t groans of pleasure?_ **

** _Rose: OMG. You think?_ **

** _Lissa: Maybe he IS gay? _ **

** _Rose: HE’S NOT GAY!!!_ **

** _Lissa: Are you SURE? At the very least, what if he wasn’t ready?_ **

** _Lissa: Isn’t that pretty much what you were saying about last night? That he wanted to wait_ **

** _Lissa: And you were on top, so you had control over everything_ **

** _Rose: Oh god, what if he thinks I just used his body to get off? What if he is completely disgusted by what I did?_ **

** _Rose: I DIDN’T GET CONSENT BEFORE I DID THAT! I’m no better than Jesse!_ **

** _Lissa: Stop freaking out, Rose. Breathe_ **

** _Rose: Easy 4 u 2 say_ **

** _Lissa: He said he was coming back, right?_ **

** _Rose: He said he was, but what if he doesn’t?_ **

** _Lissa: If he doesn’t, then you can call him tomorrow_ **

** _Lissa: If he does, then TALK TO HIM about what happened. Give him a chance to explain his side_ **

** _Lissa: And in the meantime, find something else 2 do. No point in looking like you were desperate waiting for him_ **

** _Rose: Like what else?_ **

** _Lissa: Like the unpacking I’ve been asking u 2 do for the past week_ **

** _Rose: Liss, I’m giving you my meanest glower through the phone right now_ **

** _Lissa: Who knows? Maybe he will have a good reason and apologize for leaving_ **

** _Rose: Maybe. _ **

** _Rose: OK, I’ll go unpack the damn kitchen and bathroom_ **

** _Rose: Dimitri came back_ **

** _Lissa: See? And you were unpacking all this time, too, so you’ll look busy_ **

** _Rose: Oh shit I can’t talk to him_ **

** _Lissa: Yes, you can. You’re Rose Hathaway. You’ve got this_ **

** _Rose: I do, don’t I?_ **

** _Lissa: Damn straight, you do_ **

** _Rose: And it’s Mazur_ **

** _Lissa: Right. I’ll never get used to that. Your dad still gives me the creeps._ **

** _Rose: You should give him a chance_ **

** _Rose: He’s a nice guy_ **

** _Rose: Sort of_ **

** _Rose: He paid for our house for the summer, didn’t he?_ **

** _Lissa: You’re stalling. Go talk to Dimitri_ **

** _Rose: Fine_ **

** _Rose: But if things go badly I’m going to use the unpacking as an excuse to leave the room and have a freak-out by myself for a little while_ **

** _Lissa: Let me know how it went after you talk to him_ **

** _Lissa: Did Dimitri apologize? Maybe it’s not as bad as you think_ **

Oh. 

Rose thinks I wasn’t into her. 

She thinks she took advantage of me and was using me for my body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> True story: that screen unlock is the pattern my son uses on his tablet. His name doesn’t start with an ‘L’ or anything. No idea how he came up with that.  
We’ve made it to ‘lucky’ chapter 13, so I thought I’d do something fun with Dimitri’s luck in this chapter!  
I know that the punctuation wouldn’t be there with the speech-to-text, but my conscience wouldn’t let me intentionally omit it. I at least left out as much punctuation as I could for the ones after the doorbell rang.  
How are you liking this story, so far? As some of you have maybe already seen, I put the final chapter of Building the Tension out and I now have a Facebook page. There was actually a brief preview of the text messages above on Facebook a few days ago. There was also a vote on the Facebook page for which story ought to be my primary focus once Building the Tension is/was done. Playing Adult won the vote, but it was very close (five votes to four, by the time you include the two who messaged me outside of Facebook), so feel free to let me know if you have strong feelings one way or the other:  
facebook dot com/HonestPassion13


	14. More of her Colorful Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy.  
There may be some mature sexual content ahead.  
No one but me has edited this story.

Oh. 

Rose thinks I wasn’t into her. 

She thinks she took advantage of me and was using me for my body.

I exited out of the text messages, not sure exactly what to do, just as another text came in.

** _Text from Unknown Number:_ **

**_Hi Rose, this is your delivery driver. Your food order is ready and I’m headed to the house now_**

I typed a reply: **_This neighborhood can be tricky to find. Do you need directions?_**

The driver replied back: **_I think I’ve been there before, but having directions never hurts. Thanks_**

I typed out some directions for the driver and hit send. As I prepared to lock the screen, Rose called down the stairs, “Any word from the food driver yet?”

“Actually,” I told her, “I just gave the driver directions.”

“Great!” she said, bounding down the stairs, “I’m starved. I’m just gonna grab my phone and head back up to finish the bathroom.”

As Rose approached the coffee table, she reached for her phone, but I pulled it back behind me. “Wait,” I told her. Rose scowled.

“I came here to spend time with you, Roza,” I told her, putting my arm around her waist and pulling her to sit across my lap, “not to sit in the living room while you’re unpacking upstairs.”

“Stop,” she told me, “Just stop.” Upon closer inspection, Rose’s eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying. And I felt like shit.

“Stop what?” I asked her.

“Dimitri, either you want me or you don’t,” she told me with a slight tremble in her voice, “You can’t have it both ways.”

“Then I want you,” I told her, giving her a light kiss on her lips, “I never said that I didn’t. What happened here earlier, Rose, when you were …” I struggled to find the right wording for what happened.

“Using you as a human sex toy?” she tried.

I growled lightly, both at her assumption that she was using me and at the exciting idea of Rose using a sex toy, hoping she couldn’t feel against her hip the hardening that was already happening at that thought. “When you were kissing me and ... rubbing your body up against mine in a very … _provocative _way, and when _I_ was caressing your incredible breasts without a bra - something I’ve never done before to a girl without a bra on, and _certainly _not to a girl who had breasts like yours - Roza, it was very … _stimulating _…” 

Rose looked at me with confusion. “And that’s bad why?”

“I didn’t say it was _bad_, Rose. In fact, it was, perhaps, a bit _too _stimulating. I might even say it was very … _productive_,” I told her, my cheeks heating at what I had just admitted to her, “which is why I think maybe we should slow things down just a little, so that I can show you the patience and respect you really deserve before that happens again.”

“_Productive_ … Dimitri, are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?” Rose asked, looking into my eyes, her lips just inches away from my own.

I closed my eyes and swallowed, unable to look her in the eye. “That depends on what you think I’m telling you.”

Rose giggled lightly, “That I wasn’t the only one who was climaxing earlier when I was on top of you?”

“You were not,” I told her, as I ran the tip of my index finger along her collarbone, “and no one else has ever done that to me before, either.”

“So I didn’t do anything against your will?” she asked.

“Not at all,” I told her, letting my eyes drift back down to her chest, just inches away from my fingers. It was so, so tempting to just lower my fingers and explore her luscious peaks some more. I looked back up and met her inquiring gaze. I knew it was all too evident what I’d just been thinking about.

“Comrade, I was afraid that I had taken advantage of you.” 

“Just because I wasn’t sure I was ready doesn’t mean it was unwanted,” I told her. Rose leaned in and pressed her lips to mine, deepening the kiss as soon as her lips were fully upon mine. Our tongues tangled and she pulled the tie out of my still-wet hair, running her fingers through it.

Rose pulled back and said, “Your hair is wet.”

“That tends to happen when you shower,” I told her, “I had to clean up after I left.”

“I guess I should’ve noticed. Not that it would’ve made a difference, but it might’ve made me wonder a little,” she said, “So how slow should we take things, Comrade?”

“Maybe we just stick to keeping our clothes on for another date or two?” I offered, “And not touching each other anywhere the clothing covers?”

“I can do that if you can,” she said, “but perhaps I should wear something that shows a little more skin,” she teased, giving me that same sinful man-eating smile and a flirtatious wink. 

“Mmm, I’d like that,” I told her, my voice getting huskier than I meant for it to be. As I leaned in to kiss her soft lips again, the doorbell suddenly rang.

“That’s gotta be the food,” she told me, but she continued to lean in, letting her lips meet mine. I rotated and leaned her down against the couch, my body hovering over hers, one hand on the small of her back and the other twisted in her soft hair. 

Against my lips, Rose murmured, “What if we just kept it above the waist?” I groaned at the thought of cupping and caressing her beautiful breasts again.

The doorbell rang again, just as Roza’s stomach let out a deep growling sound. I pulled away and told her, “We’d better get that. I don’t think he’s going to leave.”

Rose closed her eyes and sighed. “Fine,” she told me.

I stood up and went to the door, opening it. The delivery driver was standing with his back to me, but I would recognize that messy brown hair anywhere.

“Adrian?” I asked.

He turned. When he saw me, he exclaimed, “Dimka! I’m trying to deliver some food for someone named Rose Mazur. Did I get the wrong house? I could’ve sworn Uncle Rand lived in the next house over.”

“No,” Rose said, coming up from behind me to stand at the door, “You have the right - Adrian Ivashkov?!?”

“Wait - you know each other?” I asked her.

“Adrian and I were in the same high school together. He graduated the year after me. We went out for a few months, back in the day,” she said, “How do you know Adrian? And what did he call you? Dimka?”

I laughed, telling her, “Adrian is my cousin. Our fathers are brothers.”

“Yeah,” said Adrian, “Dimka is a Russian nickname for Dimitri. His whole family called him that growing up. But, Rose, I thought your last name was Hathaway? You didn’t get married, did you?’

“No,” she said, “I don’t go by Hathaway anymore. I had my name legally changed to my dad’s last name after I finished high school. So, you’re Dimitri’s cousin, huh? That explains _so _much.” She turned her head sideways and eyed me speculatively.

“Rose _Hathaway_?” I asked, hearing her say the name for the first time. I raised an eyebrow and grinned like a kid with a cookie, “Now, there’s a name I’ve heard before. I didn’t know that you were one in the same. I’ve heard some interesting stories about you.” I did know, but it was a white lie.

“All false, I’m sure,” said Rose, “There’s a good reason I changed it.”

“So, what’s Dimitri doing over here?” Adrian asked, then looking between us, he added, “Are you two on a _date_? Isn’t he a little young for you, little hooligan?”

Standing completely behind Rose, I frantically tried to wave both hands, trying to keep Adrian from mentioning my real age.

“Yeah,” said Rose, “Ha, I don’t usually go for underclassmen, but I did with you. Dimitri’s just such a sweetheart that I couldn’t resist.”

“Yeah, he sure is a sweetheart. And honest as the day is long.” Adrian added, giving a slight cough, “I mean, he’s just barely - what are you now, Dimka? Twenty?” I arched an eyebrow, mentally telling him, _Nice save, Adrian. I owe you one, buddy_.

“Listen,” said Adrian, handing over the bag of food, “I’d love to stay and chat, but I have other deliveries to make. Can I get a signature for the food?”

“Sure,” said Rose, signing for the food and smiling, ”I’d love to catch up later, though. It was good to see you, Adrian.”

“You too, little hooligan. Let’s plan on it,” said Adrian, then nodding at me, he said, “Dimitri.” I nodded back and he left.

A moment later, while Rose sat down with the food, I got a series of text messages from Adrian: 

** _You better hope that I don’t talk to Rose again until you have a chance to tell her your age _ **

** _And you better be glad that I’m with Sydney now_ **

** _I just lied to the one that got away for you, Dimka_ **

** _I love you, buddy_ **

** _But I love Rose more_ **

** _You owe me, big time_ **

I replied back: **_Yes, I do. And I’ll tell her. Just give me a couple of months_**

“So, Comrade,” said Rose, while I was still looking down at my phone, “How did you hear about me before we met? Did Adrian tell you about me?”

“No,” I told her, “I went to St. Vladimir’s. My older sister Viktoria would’ve been a grade above you.”

“Her name doesn’t ring a bell,” Rose said, handing me my food, “I don’t think I ever saw or heard of you there, either, though. Then again, I didn’t always pay a lot of attention to all of the students younger than me. When I came back from being gone, it was like meeting everyone but the teachers for the first time. Did you have any questions about any of the rumors about me? I’m sure you heard a few doozies. I’d be glad to answer anything.”

I couldn’t help myself. This was my chance to find out some things. I’d start off small, though. “What about the rule that you have to have notarized documentation with a doctor’s signature for a service animal?”

Rose laughed before she took another bite of her fries. Her laugh was a beautiful sound. “Oh, now that one is true. Lissa and I came back to school after everything happened with her sick uncle Victor and she was facing some major anxiety. Lissa’s parents had let me stay at their house with her until she got re-acclimated to being back. While we were away, she had adopted this mangy-looking, smelly cat named Oscar from the Humane Society. She was afraid to leave him alone. Actually, we sort of both were, because I didn’t want him peeing all over my stuff. But she also just didn’t feel very secure around other people besides me and her parents yet, after it all happened.

“Anyways, she refused to go to school without him and was worried people would think she was a nut-job if she needed an emotional support animal, so I made a few fake phone calls over to the school claiming that Lissa had lost her sense of smell in a freak accident and Oscar was her service animal that would smell everything for her. It almost worked, too, if not for Stan Alto.”

“Mean old Coach Alto?” I asked, “What did he do?”

“He had a hamster in his classroom. When Oscar tried to eat it, he called a lawyer and asked if a smelling-nose cat could be a legitimate service animal.”

“Let me guess. It can’t.”  
“Bingo,” Rose said, “What else do you want to know?”

“What about the aluminum foil in the cafeteria?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s a good one,” Rose said, “And _completely _not my fault. My mom went on this whole eco-friendly kick the beginning of my sophomore year - the first time I was a sophomore. She decided we weren’t going to use any disposable plastics and that all of our food would need to be in environmentally friendly packaging. She wouldn’t let me order food from the cafeteria because they used styrofoam plates and plastic silverware, so she would pack me food in a paper bag and wrapped in aluminum foil. One day, she sent me to school with a slice of pizza wrapped in aluminum foil. I went to heat it in the microwave and I didn’t know that you can’t stick aluminum foil in a microwave, so I just tossed the whole thing in and set it for three minutes. Sparks started flying everywhere and the whole microwave caught fire! Poor Mrs. Karp ran out of the cafeteria screaming! After that, they made the rule, but I wasn’t allowed to cook _anything _again, _ever_.”

“So where did you say that you and Lissa lived while you were away, again?” I asked.

“We lived in Chicago for a while. My parents caught up with us Portland, though.”

Now, on to the more difficult topics. “What exactly did you and Lissa do to support yourselves while you were gone?” _Please say ‘stripper’_ … _And then offer to give me a private dance as a demonstration._

“Well, Lissa’s parents had always been a little paranoid about the economy, so they had twenty grand in cash stashed away in a safe in their house that we took with us when we left. For a while there, we were living off of that. After the cash ran out, we had taken waitressing jobs in this really shady strip club. Just waitressing, though - we never got naked or anything. It actually paid really well because drunk guys who come there just to give cash to pretty girls tip pretty good. The strippers made about triple what we ever made, though. We were paid completely in tips, under the table, until someone finally asked to see an ID and we both had to leave. In the end, we were working as swimsuit models, but eventually there was a private investigator who tracked us down through a photo in one of the local newspapers.”

Now for the toughest topic of all: “How about you and Adrian? I mean, did you love him?”

“That was not a question I expected you to ask. And maybe not one I hoped you would ask, Dimitri. Yes, I loved him, but it just wasn’t meant to be.” 

“How close were you, then, Rose?” I asked, gritting my teeth. I knew she wasn’t ‘mine’, but I couldn’t stand the idea of her being with someone else.

“If another friend hadn’t convinced me to break it off, Adrian probably would’ve been my first.”

“I see. And how do you feel about him now?”

“Why does it matter?” she asked me.

“Because it does. You haven’t answered the question, Rose.”

“Dimitri, are you ... _jealous_?” asked Rose, with a mischievous glint in her eye, “Oh, wow, you _are_!”

“Roza, you told me you didn’t want me planning to be with anyone else anytime soon. I’d just like to ask the same of you.”

Rose giggled. Of all the times to giggle, she fucking _giggled_. The woman was doubled over, rolling around on the floor, giggling so hard she could barely breathe. I growled at that.

“Of _course_, I’m not planning to be with anyone else, Dimitri! Is that what you seriously think?” Rose asked.

“Yes,” I told her. 

She took my hand and said, “How about this? I promise that until we both agree to see other people, I won’t be with anyone else. Deal?”

“Deal,” I told her.

“I’m willing to wait until we’re both ready, but I’d like to be your first, Dimitri,” she said. And my pants suddenly got a whole lot tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, is this any better than I left things last chapter? I hope so. Did you all catch the reference to Bloodlines with the newspaper photo of modeling being how they were tracked down?  
As far as stripper part goes, I do have a little personal knowledge on the subject. NO, I WAS NEVER A STRIPPER!!! When I was in college, my husband had a couple of roommates who were dating strippers. It’s not a job I would recommend for anyone. It’s a super-sketchy and short-lived career and there are a lot of strippers with serious emotional problems or worse (one of them that I knew had a cocaine habit), but they could make some serious cash. The girls that I knew who were strippers would come over on a Saturday night with around $800, which would - by inflation - be worth about $1,300 of today’s money, in small bills, after working for only four hours!


	15. Confession Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy  
There may be some mature sexual content ahead  
No one but me has edited this story  
Don’t hate me because Rose isn’t in this chapter; she will be back next chapter

The rest of the night with Roza passed uneventfully, but she did spend a lot of it in my arms. 

When I got home, Randall had many more chores for me. He had taken to giving me extra work as almost another form of abuse after I got too large to hit without fighting back. I wouldn’t sink down to his level, though, so I just did the work and did my best at it. By the time all my chores were done, Roza’s light was already off, although I could tell her curtains were closed.

Sunday morning, I had to attend church. St. Vladimir’s was a religious school connected to a church and every student was required to attend church services on Sundays. Despite the fact that I lived with Randall on weekends, he never attended church with me. In fact, my sisters, Mama, and Babushka would attend, sometimes even sitting with me. 

When I got to the sanctuary, my family wasn’t there yet. I found the spot where Ivan was sitting and joined him, sitting in the same pew. The service hadn’t started yet, but it was due to start any minute.

“Dimitri!” he whisper-hissed, “How did your dates with Rose go this weekend? Did the book work? What about Twister? Did you end up telling her how old you are?”

“One question at a time. And not during church,” I told him as Viktoria came and sat on my other side. A few seconds later, the priest came and began to recite the opening prayer. 

I bowed my head and tried to ignore him as we prayed, but Ivan continued, hissing out a whispered, “C’mon, man, don’t hold out on me!” then Ivan leaned forward and added to Vika, who he always had a crush on, “Hi Vika, you look lovely today!”

“Dude!” I hissed back, next to his ear, “Wait until after church to pester me about my dates this weekend!”

“You’re telling him about your dates, Dimka?” Viktoria asked, “I want to know, too!”

“No,” I whispered to her, “I am _not _telling him about my dates. But Ivan keeps asking.”

“At least tell me if she knows how old you are now?” he asked. _Oh, shit, here we go!_ I shot Ivan a killing look, but he just continued to look curious.

“Roza doesn’t know how old you are, Dimka?” Viktoria asked in a quiet voice. The church service was well under way, but except for the tone of our voices, it looked like it had been all but forgotten by the three of us.

Ivan smiled at Viktoria, now aware that he held information she wanted. Ivan was my best friend since we were kids and would often choose our friendship over girls, but he had wanted Vika since he was twelve. “Dimitri hasn’t told her how old he is,” Ivan replied to Vika, “and she thinks he’s in college,” then to me, he added, “What? It’s not like Viktoria wasn’t going to figure it out!”

Viktoria asked me, “Is there a big age difference?” Despite being in church, I nearly cursed under my breath. I knew this was coming the moment Ivan asked if she knew my age.

“Something like that,” I said.

Ivan added, helpfully, “Dimitri said she dated Jesse.”

Viktoria’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. “Jesse? Ivan’s _cousin_, Jesse? Jesse _Zeklos_?!? _That _Jesse?” 

Ivan nodded. I muttered to him, “Ivan, if we weren’t in church right now, I would seriously throttle you.”

“Jesse went to St. Vladimir’s,” Viktoria said, then she looked at me and asked, “Roza _did _go to St. Vladimir’s, _didn’t _she?”

Ivan looked like he was going to nod again, but I shook my head ‘no’ and surreptitiously pinched him before he could do it. 

“Ow, Dimitri!” Ivan said. The people in the pew in front of us all turned and shushed him. “Sorry!” he whispered to them.

“If she didn’t go to St. Vladimir’s, why did Ivan just say ‘ow’ like that?” Viktoria asked, squinting at me.

Between gritted teeth, I replied, “Probably because he’s an idiot who doesn’t know how to keep from getting himself from getting hurt.”

Ivan seemed oblivious to what I was trying to convey and told her, “Yes, Rose is twenty-five. She graduated from St. Vladimir’s the year after you did.”

“I bet I could find her in my yearbook!” Viktoria said.

“Not likely,” said Ivan, “She’s changed her name since high school.”

I looked down, pinched the bridge of my nose for calm and took a deep breath.

“Are you sure I don’t know her?” Viktoria asked me.

“One hundred percent,” I told her, since Vika had already said that she only knew Rose by reputation.

Viktoria, in a surprising change of direction, said, “Dimka, you can’t keep deceiving this girl. You know she’s going to find out how old you are.”

“Vika,” I said, “how would you feel if you found out a guy you were dating was in _high school_?”

“Like _der’mo_,” she said - _like shit_ -, “but it’d be a lot better hearing it from him than from someone else.”

“I won’t be in high school much longer,” I told them both, “I just have to keep her from finding out until I can graduate.”

“Do you really think it would be better for her to find out you’re only a freshman in college _next _school year, after you’ve been dating her for months already?” Vika asked,“And how do you explain why you can’t spend time with her on graduation weekend?”

I knew she was right, but I simply couldn’t manage to find a good way to tell Rose. As we were instructed to stand for singing a song, I told them both, “Let’s talk about this after church. Okay?”

Both of them mumbled an agreement as the song began.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

“If I tell you this, you can’t say anything to Vika. Right, Ivan?” I asked, sitting on the bench outside the church.

Ivan huffed out a sigh, and then said, sitting beside me, “Fine! But you have to help me with her. You heard what she said about dating a guy in high school.”

“She already knows you’re in high school, Ivan,” I told him.

“But I still want her to go out with me! So stop stalling and just tell me about the dates, Dimitri. Did you at least kiss her?”

“Yes, we kissed. Cooking with her went mostly okay. When we were kneading the bread together, I think I elbowed her in the boob so hard that I gave her a small bruise, though.”

“Hold on,” he said, getting excited, “How do you know that she had a bruise? Did you see her breasts, Dimitri? Did Rose _show _you her breasts?”

“No! She didn’t show me her breasts!” I exclaimed, hesitantly adding, “but I may have - _briefly _\- caught a partial glimpse down her shirt neckline.”

“You dirty dog, Dimitri!” Ivan said, cuffing me on the back, “I thought you liked this girl! Why are you turning into a Peeping Tom with her?”

“I’m not turning into a Peeping Tom,” I told him, “I just caught a glimpse. Accidentally. When she was bent over. If it was up to her, she probably would’ve just taken her shirt off for me, anyways, but you know about what Doctor Ozera told me! I can’t! Not until at least our next date!”

“So, she wanted to?” He asked. I sheepishly nodded. “When did the kissing happen? And what happened after the cooking?”

“The kissing happened before we ate dinner on Friday. Rose and I both really liked the book. I’ll bring it back to school with me tomorrow for you. By the way, she saw your note. Thanks for that.”

“Did I say anything in the note that wasn’t true? And did you at least get to ask her the question about having thin walls when you have sex?” he asked.

“No,” I said, “Why would I want to ask that one?”

“It can be fun to have a girl who is very vocal in bed,” he laughed, “What if she just lays there perfectly quiet and still, and acts like it’s boring to be having sex with you?”

“Oh, no, she’s not quiet when she’s in bed,” I told him. 

“So, you _did _get her to go to bed with you?” he asked. _Der’mo! Why did I say that?_

“No!” I protested, perhaps a bit too aggressively.

“I’m not so sure I believe you, Dimitri,” said Ivan, “Why’re you holding out on me, bro?”

“Fuck!” I said, “It’s a long story and I don’t want to be that guy who brags about his conquests. We had a little bit of closeness during Twister, but no clothes came off. There was some _contact_, that’s all - but we didn’t have sex!”

“I told you Twister. It works every time!” he said.

“You have no idea,” I told him.

“As much as you want this girl, you didn’t seem like this was just about a fuck. Does this mean that you two have a commitment of some kind? Like a defined relationship? Or did you two just get physical without one?”

“Sort of both,” I told him, “She seemed pretty ready to get close and we didn’t really say the words, but we both agreed we wouldn’t be seeing anyone else.”

“So when do you see her again?” he asked me.

“I don’t know,” I said, “We didn’t set a next date. Should I text her right now and set one up?”

“_NO_!” Ivan practically shrieked, “Buddy, if I’ve learned anything at all from all of my experience with dating women, it’s that you never, _NEVER _contact her the next day after a date and ask her to go out again. Either give it another day or two or wait for her to contact you, whichever happens first.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“If you call her the next day, you’ll seem too eager. If you wait, the more likely she’ll want to be the one to contact you,” he said, “Trust me. I’d put money on it.”

“Is that a wager?” I asked, “I could use some money to take her out somewhere nice.”

“How about this?” Ivan said, “It’s not often - or _ever _\- my best bro is this serious about a girl. _If _you don’t initiate contact with her before at least Tuesday, and give me proof of it, I’ll give you fifty bucks to take her out somewhere nice, regardless. If she gets in touch with you before you can contact her, then …”

“Ivan, I don’t have any money that I can spare to wager on it,” I told him.

“No problem, Dimitri!” he told me, “If she asks you, then you have to do two hundred reps on the bench press during lifting every day we lift, from the time she contacts you until Friday. If you have to get in contact with her, after Tuesday, then I’ll do two hundred each day. Deal?”

“Deal.”

We shook hands, and then my phone rang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Ivan is a pretty unknown quantity, I’ve taken some liberties with what he would be like. I’ve actually based a lot of his personality off a couple of my husband’s closest friends over the years who were all (to quote conversations that my husband and I have had in the past) ‘lovable dickheads’.  
I had a story idea I was kicking around a few months ago but I knew that I didn’t have the time to write it, so I shared the idea with someone I knew could do it really well: TheBasicBitch. For those of you on Fanfiction dot net, PLEASE go check out her story “Bedmates”. Her first chapter of the story is up and she has done an awesome job with it! For those of you who can’t find her story and want to read it or have never been on Fanfiction dot net, let me know and I’ll be glad to help you find it.


	16. Better Take a Pain Killer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you even read these things? Do I even still need to keep saying the same three disclaimers?  
Only this story plot is mine  
PG-13 content ahead  
I don’t have a beta for this story and mistakes happen

I looked at the caller ID and cringed, knowing I just lost the second part of the wager with Ivan. It was Rose.

“Hello,” I said, as I answered the phone.

“Hi Comrade,” said Rose into the phone, “I know that I probably should’ve waited a couple days to get in touch with you so that I don’t look all clingy or desperate or something, but I knew you’d be busy tomorrow and I really just wanted to hear your voice.” 

I smiled, hearing her words. “No, I could never find you clingy or desperate. It’s nice to hear your voice, too, Roza,” I told her. I’d almost forgotten Ivan was standing there until he began smirking at the mention of her name and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. “What are you up to today?”

Ivan pulled out fifty dollars and passed it to me. I hadn’t even considered the fact that since she was the one to call first, it meant I hadn’t initiated the contact, so I won the first bet. I felt better about it until Ivan started miming lifting a heavy weight over and over again.

“Not much,” replied Rose, “I finally got the bathroom unpacked. Lissa will be super-happy about it when she gets home. What about you?”  
“I just got done with church, actually,” I told her.

“Oh? I didn’t know you went.”

“My whole family goes. We have since I was little,” I told her. It wasn’t a lie, but definitely not the only reason I was there, since it was required for school.

“Maybe I should join you there sometime. I haven’t been since Lissa and I went to St. Vladimir’s,” she told me. I cringed. There was no way I would be able to have her meet my family and keep my age a secret.

“Maybe,” I said, noncommittally, “I remember you telling me how much you liked to sleep in, so don’t feel like you have to.”

“True,” said Rose, “Anyway, I just wanted to run an idea past you. I guess Christian has been bugging Lissa about the four of us spending time together once he’s not your teacher. I know that you’ve got finals for his class this week, so once Friday night comes . How do you feel about a double-date next Friday night?”

I frowned. Yet again, it seemed circumstances were making it difficult to keep my age from Rose. But I couldn’t say ‘no’ to this one. “I guess so,” I told her, “What did you have in mind?”

“How about that new Italian restaurant in Springfield that opened last month? I know money’s a little tight for you, but I could pay for us. Christian might object, but I don’t really care what he would say about it.”

I looked at the fifty dollar bill, still in my hand, thinking I’d feel a lot better if I could pay for her in front of Ozera, and told her, “Actually, I’d be glad to pay. I just got some money. Christmas came early, I guess.”

“Great,” said Rose, “It’s a date, then. How does dinner at seven sound? Lissa’s going to be at Christian’s beforehand, so maybe I could have you come to pick me up at six so that we get a few minutes alone at the house before we head to the restaurant?”

“That sounds good,” I told her.

“I can’t wait to see you,” she said, “And I can’t wait to get my arms around you.” I growled slightly. After our mishap last night, I had made sure to preventatively ‘prime the pump’ a couple of times in my morning showers. Doing so was helping me get better control over my physical reactions to Rose, but my body still heated at her words.

“That sounds _very _good,” I told her, my voice getting huskier.

“Great! I’ll call you back later to let you know. Talk to you later, Comrade.”

“Okay, Roza, talk to you later,” I told her, hanging up the phone.

As soon as Rose hung up the phone, it instantly rang again. I picked up the phone, without checking to see who had called. “Hello?”

“Is this Dimitri Belikov?” asked the voice on the other end of the phone.

“Who is this?” I asked, not wanting to give an answer until I’d cut through the bullshit and knew who I was speaking to.

“This is Coach Alto. We’ve got the conference track meet next week, and

Phillips just broke his leg, which makes you our strongest discus thrower. I’m going to need you to do some extra-heavy lifting _every day_ this week, so I want you to plan that into your schedule.”

I groaned, knowing I had just committed to extra reps and now I’d be doing them with extra weight, too. “Yes, Coach Alto. I’ll see you tomorrow, sir.”

“Good deal. Don’t let me down, Belikov. See you then.”

I hung up the phone, knowing I was in for a hell of a week.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

“One hundred ninety-eight, one hundred ninety-nine, two hundred,” Ivan counted out for me, spotting me as I finished the set, “... aaaannnddd ... that concludes your bet! It was a pleasure doing business with you, Dimitri. It’s four thirty now. Now, go home and get ready for your double-date with her.” For good measure, he slapped me on the arm, something that would’ve been playful if my arm wasn’t already so sore.

I was so tired each night from the extra lifting that it hadn’t left me much time for anything but sleep to recover and my arms were so sore I hadn’t even been able to take care of my stray erections from thinking of Rose the past two days. I stood up and looked at Ivan. Huffing and puffing, I told him, “You … fucking … bastard. I will get you back for this.”

“You wish, sunshine,” Ivan said as he dodged behind a weight machine and added, “You’ll be grateful if you can lift your arms high enough to take a swing at me for a while. Besides, I just kept you from looking desperate to her. And I gave you the money for taking her out for dinner tonight!”

I scowled at him as we both started walking towards the locker room. He was right, but I wasn’t going to admit it yet. “You like this chick, right Dimitri?” he asked. I nodded. “Do you want her to think you’re desperate?”

“No,” I muttered.

“What was that?” Ivan asked as we both unlocked our lockers.

“No,” I replied, facing him, louder than before.

“So if you like this girl so much, is it better for her to think you are some creepy stalker who is obsessed with her, or that you have a life without her and that _she _needs to pursue _you_? Trust me on this, Dimitri. If there’s one thing I know, it’s how to get a woman who’s already interested more interested.”

“Could’ve fooled me with my sister,” I told him.

“Viktoria’s different,” he said, “She’s special. Plus, she’s not interested. Yet.” Ivan winked.

“And she never will be,” I told him, closing my locker and shouldering my gym bag.

“Nonsense, Dimitri,” he said, following me out of the locker room, “Just give it time. One day, Viktoria won’t be able to get enough of the Zek-man.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

At home all week, I’d been taking a triple-dose of ibuprofen for the pain, but I’d forgotten to bring any with me to Randall’s. It was five fifteen and I was leaving to get Rose in forty-five minutes. If nothing else, I would desperately need something for the pain so that I could manage to work off a little of my excess arousal to stave off any unwanted erections at the restaurant.

“Do you have anything for pain? Maybe something strong?” I asked Randall as the dull ache in my arms was already becoming more insistent. As an afterthought, I added, “Dad?” I never called him that when he wasn’t around and often didn’t when he _was_, either, but I knew that he preferred it. If I wanted to get him to help me, I figured I’d better play nice; catch more flies with honey.

“In the medicine cabinet over the bathroom sink,” Randall called, “Third shelf, in the prescription bottles. There are three kinds to choose from.”

On the third shelf, I found four prescription bottles. “Huh, must’ve forgotten about one,” I muttered, as I eyeballed the bottles. 

I had to drive and two of them said not to take while driving, so I looked at the other two. One of the other two said, “Take 2 capsules every 2 hours, as needed,” while the other said, “Take 1-5 tablets, as needed. Do not exceed 5 tablets per day. Results may take thirty minutes to an hour for full potency. Lasts at least 4 hours.” Opening the bottle that lasted four hours instead of just two, I took the full five tablets, knowing how bad my arms were already hurting, then hopped in the shower to finish getting ready.

Forty minutes later, I’d showered, relieved some pressure, shaved, and dressed in my shirt and tie for my double-date with Rose, Lissa, and Christian. 

My arms were still aching. I texted Ivan.

** _Me: Fuck, dude, my arms are killing me. This is all your fault_ **

** _Ivan: Don’t blame this on me. You lost a bet, fair and square. Take a painkiller and call me when you have real problems_ **

** _Me: I took some pills that Randall had for the pain, but they’re not doing shit. I took five of them, too_ **

** _Ivan: Maybe they’re not pain meds. What is it?_ **

I looked at the bottle and texted back.

** _Me: It says Sildenafil Citrate. WTF did I take?_ **

I closed up the cabinet and headed downstairs to meet Rose for our date. A few minutes later, as I was standing at Rose’s door, my phone was ringing. I looked at the caller ID. Ivan.

I pushed the answer button and could already hear Ivan laughing on the other end of the phone. “What is it?” I asked, into the phone.

Rose answered the door, wearing a low-cut green wrap dress that stunningly displayed her perfect breasts. She smiled one of those man-eating smiles and said in a breathy tone, “Come in, Comrade. We have half an hour to be alone before we need to leave. And you look so good I want to eat you up.” I was already hard looking at her.

Ivan was laughing so hard that he was having trouble talking. “Dim-Dimitri, y-you, you took, you took _viagra_, dude! They’re _boner pills_! And you took _five _of them!”

_Der’mo_!

Ivan continued to laugh so hard I had no doubt that he was rolling around on the floor. Rose was licking her lips as she looked at me and I couldn’t help but think of what I’d imagined those lips doing to me.

“Ivan, I’m gonna have to let you go now,” I said and without breaking eye contact with Rose, I hung up without waiting for a reply. Then, to Rose, I told her, “Rose, I think I have a little bit of a problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have heard countless stories of people taking the wrong prescription medication accidentally when there were more than one bottles in the same place (for example, I have a friend who accidentally took his father’s sleeping pill instead of his blood pressure medication once) and it just seemed too fun to throw this in here.  
I’m not entirely sure what my publish schedule is going to be for the next few weeks with Christmas and New Years’ upon us, but hopefully I will get the chapters out at a reasonable interval.  
I have plans. Next chapter, there will be some absolutely filthy and very enjoyable smut.


	17. Helping Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own the characters  
NC-17 content this chapter  
No beta

“Rose, I think I have a little bit of a problem.”

Roza looked at me questioningly, motioning for me to come in to the house. God, that green dress looked like it was painted on her! “What is it, Comrade?” she asked, before placing an all-too brief kiss on my lips and taking my hand in hers.

I couldn’t be honest with her about everything, but I ought to be honest with her about this. I began, “So I made a bet with Ivan,” as Rose pulled me along by the hand into the living room.

“What kind of bet?” Rose asked, sitting on the couch with her legs tucked underneath herself and patting the spot beside her.

I sat and Rose immediately nestled her body up to mine. I tried to avert my eyes from her very full cleavage that was visible from the neckline of her dress, but I’d already gotten a good look. My pants were feeling painfully tight.

“The bet itself is not important,” I said, “but I lost it and had to do two hundred reps on the bench press each day since Sunday. My arms are extremely sore.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Comrade,” Rose said, giving me a sympathetic look that was absolutely adorable.

“That’s not my problem,” I told her.

Okay,” she said, “Then what _is _your problem?”

“I took some of Randall’s pills. For the pain. But they weren’t pain pills.” I paused, unable to say more.

She made a face. It looked almost like she had tried to raise an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“They were ... “ my voice got quiet as I finished, “erectile dysfunction pills.”

Rose’s eyes got extremely wide. “Oh!”

“Yes,” I said, “And that was about an hour ago. I took the maximum daily dose and the bottle says that they last for at least four hours.”

“So, you’re ...?” Rose made an inelegant hand motion that looked a little like a flagpole.

“Exactly,” I told her.

Rose’s face split into a huge and mischievous grin and she said, “I know we said we would take it slow and that we would only touch where clothing covered, and I know we have to leave in half an hour, but what if I were to just,” she made another hand motion, rather like churning butter, “help you out with that?” At her words, my erection strained against my pants even more and I let out a deep growl. 

Biting down on her plump lower lip, she added, “I’m sure we have time. We wouldn’t have to have sex, but I’m sure I could make you feel good. With just my hands? Just until you come, and then we would stop. Let me touch you, please.”

“With your hands?” I asked her, “And we’d just _stop_, as soon as I come? Are you sure you want to do this?” 

“I want you, Comrade,” Roza said as she took a deep, shaky breath and looked at me with her lust-darkened brown eyes, so deep that they were almost black, “however I can get you.” Roza placed her small, soft hand on the inside of my knee. I gasped at the sensation as her hand began to slowly trail upwards.

Having her touch me sounded wonderful. It was all that I wanted, but I honestly wasn’t sure I’d be willing to stop at just her hands. And although this was technically our fourth date, I wasn’t sure it would really qualify as waiting long enough by Christian Ozera’s criteria. I all but moaned out, “Roza …”

“On the other hand,” she told me, “I could certainly use my mouth. But maybe that’s better to save for another day.”

I sat there dumbstruck, staring at Roza’s hand on my thigh. Her touch felt so good. “I won’t do it if you don’t want me to,” said Roza.

“Other than myself, no one has ever touched me like that before, Roza,” I told her, feeling my face burning with embarrassment and swallowing deeply.

Casting her eyes down and frowning, Roza removed her hand from my leg and said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t try to push you.”

In a moment of sudden bravery, I took Roza’s hand and placed it on my stomach, just inches from the head of my manhood. “I didn’t say I don’t want you to,” I told her, pressing my lips to hers and opening my mouth to let our tongues meet.

Roza moved her hand down, past the button on my pants, and lightly grazed my aching hard shaft through the fabric. I couldn’t help the groan of pleasure as I felt the warm friction of her touch, kissing her even more deeply. As Roza’s fingers became more forceful, rubbing harder, gripping me with each stroke, I pulled back from her lips.

“Wait,” I breathed, “how far do we let this go? Can I touch you?”

Roza’s voice was surprisingly husky as she replied, “Yes, please,” and gripped my hardness all the more firmly.

I kissed her again for another few moments, letting my hand cup and rub her breast while she stroked, running my fingers over the spot where I could feel her hardened peak in the center. I backed away again and asked, “Do our clothes come off? I don’t think I have time to go home and change afterwards.”

At that, Roza moved her mouth to my neck and began unfastening the button on my pants. The warmth and softness of her mouth on the pulse point of my neck had me moaning louder. Against my neck, Roza murmured, “If you undo the knot at my hip, this whole dress comes off.”

I groaned and tugged the knot open while she pulled the zipper on my pants down. Once the knot was undone, I pulled the two sides of the dress open and saw Roza wearing a very sheer lace bra and panties, with a garter belt and lace-topped stockings. I let out a hiss as I took in her beautiful body, closer than I’d ever been to having a woman I could touch naked in front of me.

“See something you like, Comrade?” she asked me, giving me that same man-eating smile she was becoming famous for. All I could do in reply was growl, which turned even louder as Roza slid her hand into my boxer briefs.

The feel of her warm, soft skin on my stiff member was nothing short of spectacular. I began cupping and squeezing her breasts and kissing her again, unsure how far we were going to take this and utterly perplexed as to how to provide her with the same pleasure. Roza let her thumb trail over the drops of semen that had already leaked out of me, swirling it around. I was powerless to do anything but throw my head back in pleasure, clutching her closer to me as my hands wandered her breasts. Roza wrapped her fist breathtakingly tightly around my shaft and began pumping at a leisurely slow pace. I found myself almost chanting her name, over and over again, almost unable to believe that she was really here and really doing this with me.

“I’m not going to last long,” I told her.

“Then unbutton your shirt and pull down your pants the rest of the way, Comrade,” she replied, pulling her hands away to free herself of the dress. I removed my arms from her and began to comply, leaving my tie fastened and pulling my shirt open at the front, then stood up, pulling my pants and underwear down to my knees, letting Roza see my body exposed for the first time. My length was so hard that it was standing completely upright, flush against my lower abs. Roza sat back and took me in again, a lust-fueled haze quickly filling her eyes, then one of her hands returned to stroking my length while the other was gently cupping and squeezing my balls in a way I’d never even thought to do while touching myself. I sat back down on her couch, leaning back as I let my hands play with each of her breasts.

“If we had more time, Comrade,” she told me, “I would definitely want your fingers in me right now. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more turned on than I am at this moment.”

Roza began twisting her hand slightly at my tip on each stroke, swirling her thumb over the head on each pass. Despite my own experience and proficiency at it, this was easily the best stroking my cock had ever received. I was panting so hard that I thought I might pass out as I began to feel the pressure building.

“Roza … I’m going to … I mean, I think … oh, God … umm … I think … I think I’m going to -” Before the words could finish exiting my mouth, my seed was shooting out of me, depositing itself in long lines across my chest. I groaned as the pleasure overwhelmed me. I couldn’t do anything but lay back against the couch and let the feeling pass.

Roza sat up on her knees and leaned her face over mine, giving me a tender kiss. I could hardly believe what had just happened. Without even thinking about it, I began to say, “I love you,” but quickly caught myself and added, “doing that for me. I love you doing that for me.”

Roza just grinned and kissed me again, then started to fasten up her dress and told me, “My pleasure, Comrade. If this medication lasts all night, I might have to do it again after dinner. Since we will have more time then, Maybe you don’t have to be the only one who gets naked. Now, I’ll get you a damp cloth to clean that up. Be right back.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

When we arrived at the restaurant, we weren’t late, but Christian and Lissa were already there, waiting for us. The hostess directed us to the table and we joined them, sitting side by side in the opposite side of the booth they’d gotten, with Rose by the wall and me on the outside. 

When the waitress came to the table, I was looking down at the menu in front of me, but I felt Rose stiffen in the seat beside me.

I felt Rose’s hand posessively gripping my leg. She whispered in my ear, “Comrade, put your arm around me. Now.” I gave a tentative look at Christian and did as I she instructed. My erection was already starting to recuperate from our earlier activities and I wasn’t sure Christian would approve of the public display of affection, since he was still willing to keep my secret, but I knew I’d be risking more to ignore what she asked.

The waitress said, “Hi, my name is Natalie and I’ll be your server tonigh - Lissa? _ROSE_?!? Is that you?”

“Natalie!” Rose said, with what I could already tell was a terribly fake smile on her face, “we had no idea you worked here. Christian, you remember our old roommate Natalie?” 

‘_Old roommate Natalie_’ … why did that sound familiar?

Christian gave a tight nod and said in a condescending voice, “Natalie. If we’d known you were waitressing here, we would’ve gone somewhere else.”

Natalie - a gangly-looking girl who looked the same age as Rose, with black hair, sallow-looking pale skin, and huge glasses that covered most of her face - pointedly ignored Christian and asked, “And who’s your handsome friend, Rose?”

Rose gripped my leg tighter and said, “This is Dimitri. My boyfriend. We’re _very_ close, and _very _exclusive.” Christian, who I had difficulty even noticing was there, raised an eyebrow at me at her words. As soon as Rose finished her sentence, she leaned in and nuzzled my neck, letting me feel her soft lips and warm tongue trail along the pressure point on my neck and sending shivers down my spine. Yes, definitely recuperated.

“Well, isn’t that just ducky?” said Natalie, as Rose’s hand trailed further up my thigh, “Dimitri, how did you meet Rose?”

I told her, “Rose moved in next to my father.”

“Ooh,” said Natalie, placing an arm on my shoulder, “What a sexy accent! Where are you from, Dimitri?”

“Russia,” I told her, wishing she would just go away as Rose’s fingers began gently outlining my hard length through my pants.

“Great,” said Natalie, then looking right at me, she asked, “Well, what can I get for all of you to drink tonight? It’s not often I see you all, so your drinks are on me.”

“Screwdriver,” said Rose, immediately, “Better make it a hammer, in fact.”

“What’s a hammer?” Lissa asked, inquisitively.

“Still a screwdriver, but triple the vodka.”

Natalie scowled slightly, but jotted it down on her pad of paper, then said, “And, handsome, since you’re Russian, I’ll bring you a Russian vodka on the rocks. I know where they keep the good stuff.”

“Uhh, actually,” I said, eyeing Christian, “I’m driving tonight. Better make it a Coke for me.”

“Sure thing, sweetie,” Natalie said. At her last word, Rose gripped my shaft tightly. I sat up a little straighter and tried not to growl too loudly.

Christian and Lissa ordered their drinks and then Natalie left the table. As soon as she was gone, Rose relented her sensuous grip on my manhood and said, “Sorry about that, Comrade. Natalie is the roommate I told you about. With my ex, Jesse?”

Then, I remembered. _“I didn’t even know he was cheating on me the whole time, either. I drew the line when I caught him ramming my roommate Natalie up against the headboard in my bed, though.”_

I whispered in Roza’s ear, “You’ll definitely have to help me out with this again before the night is through.” I was tempted to pull her hand back to my eager shaft under the table, but I thought that with Christian and Lissa sitting there, that was probably a bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it wasn’t immediately obvious, calling it a hammer like that is not a real thing. There was one time when I was at a catered party with an open bar in Louisville, Kentucky. The bartender got a little overzealous with the pour on my fifth drink (yes, I had quite a few that particular night!), and told me that if he kept adding vodka to my screwdriver, it’d turn into a hammer.  
For those of you who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! (in about 2 hours where I live). I don’t know what my update schedule is going to be, but I’ll try to have another chapter out with the rest of the double date by the weekend. Be prepared now for just a bit of angst as Natalie tries to come between Dimitri and Rose during the date, but I plan for it to all work out in the end for a happy Romitri ending. I’m off work until January, so I might try to get a couple of extra chapters out over the next week or so.


	18. Things I do Around a Slut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reader discretion is advised, both for mature content and for potential errors not caught during proofreading. You know who owns VA.

**Rose POV:**

Finally touching Dimitri was more than I could ask for. His response when my hand touched him, even through his pants, was so exciting. But seeing Dimitri naked was … his body was a work of art. If he hadn’t told me he was at church on Sunday, I would think he was a god. 

First there were all of the amazing muscles and flawless skin. Every inch of him was tanned, sculpted, and toned. I knew he worked out a lot and was very strong, but seeing it all was a much different story.

Then, when his pants came down, there was the gift that only a freak accident could have let nature bestow on just one person. Sure, I knew he was tall and everything would be more proportioned to that larger body size, but this went well beyond that. 

Alive or man-made, I’d never seen a shaft as well-endowed as his. 

And I had high-speed internet.

I was glad when I saw it that I hadn’t offered to use my mouth on him because I could probably choke to death on that. As my hands made contact with him for the first time, I remembered how Dimitri had said that he touched himself and how he had erotic dreams about me. Undoubtedly, his fantasies, both conscious and un-, had wandered towards being inside me. Inside me with _that_. 

I sighed in bliss at the idea. I couldn’t wait until he was ready.

Watching his uncontrolled responses was exciting by itself, but feeling him touch my breasts and the taste and feel of his kiss heightened the experience. I was almost moaning without even having my center touched.

Before Dimitri finally came in my hand, I was so tempted to pull my panties off and let him touch me. I couldn’t help but notice how wet I was, and I bet he’d like me this wet, too. A man of his size, Dimitri would need me this wet to fit.

When he said ‘I love you’, I was so ready to say it back. Then he appended the statement and I wasn’t sure if he meant the ‘I love you’ or not. I would wait for him to say it when he was ready.

It was honestly almost a reflex to return the statement when someone says, “I love you,” but I really did love Dimitri. I didn’t know him for that long, so it didn’t really make sense that I would fall in love with someone so soon, but I did love him, nonetheless. I was falling for Dimitri so hard, with my whole heart, far more than I ever felt for Jesse or Adrian.

I silently vowed to myself while I was getting Dimitri the wet washcloth that I wouldn’t let an opportunity like this pass me by again. The next time I had Dimitri’s gorgeous body naked and exposed before me, he was not going to be the only one. Tonight, I would make him mine.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

Once we got to the restaurant and sat, Lissa looked me up and down and gave me a huge grin. She had helped me get dressed and I knew that she recognized the special decorative bow she had helped me tie in the dress had been undone, but even then, she’d been my best friend for long enough to recognize the look on my face when I had been getting undressed with a guy. While Dimitri was getting situated in the booth, I gave her a small nod, and Lissa gave me a thumbs-up gesture behind her menu.

It was only a few seconds later when my whole night turned to shit.

Up to our table walked Natalie Dashkov, sporting a waitress uniform and some ungodly unattractive glasses three sizes too big for her. I I couldn’t help but cling to Dimitri just a little bit tighter. Even if we hadn’t said anything super-official and we hadn’t sealed the deal, Dimitri was _mine_.

I immediately went into jealous and territorial mode and asked Dimitri to put his arm around me. When Natalie asked a question about Dimitri, I immediately butted in, both not wanting her to hear his turn-panties-to-butter accent and wanting to assert that Dimitri and I were _together _\- even if he hadn’t agreed to it. When she finally did hear his voice, it was exactly as I feared and she was already starting in on the shameless flirting, so I started a little extra flirting of my own through his pants. I probably shouldn’t have if I had remembered the medication he’d taken, but I wanted to give Dimitri something to completely draw his attention away from the skanky bitch who was flirting with him.

At first, I was surprisingly thankful Natalie had offered to pay for our drinks. I was going to need a lot of alcohol to make it through this night. She had never been this blatant with Jesse when she was in front of me, so I wasn’t really sure if it was truly about Dimitri, payback for kicking her out, or if she was just being more proactive about it and stake a better claim on the attractive man because I had heard that Jesse inevitably wouldn’t go back to Natalie after we had broken up.

When Natalie offered him the taste of home with the Russian vodka, I practically bared my teeth at her. Dimitri was the picture of restraint and control, though, and turned down the free drink for the sake of driving home. In my opinion, a guy of his size probably would’ve been sober long before dinner was over, but I wasn’t going to argue about it. Especially if it meant a girl like Natalie wasn’t going to get to ply him with drinks.

When she called Dimitri ‘sweetie’, that was the last straw. I was ready to jerk him off right under the table to keep his focus on me if I had to. Who cares if Christian and Lissa were across the booth from us. I gripped him tightly, readying to tug his zipper down, but then Natalie walked away.

As soon as Natalie left the table, I realized the state I’d just put Dimitri into with the medication in his system and quickly uttered an apology with an explanation. I knew Lissa wouldn’t question why I was apologizing even if she didn’t fully understand what I was apologizing for. I would figure out how to deal with it if Christian asked, but he knew what I went through with Natalie after the shit hit the fan with Jesse and he saw how I was behaving _above _the table.

Dimitri whispered in my ear, “You’ll definitely have to help me out with this again before the night is through,” and I thought back to what I had said earlier about picking back up where we left off after dinner. I felt my panties dampen even more.

Dimitri studiously examined his menu in silence for a few minutes and I did the same, not wanting to break the concentration I assumed he was working on to make his erection go away. 

When Natalie came back, she brought us our drinks and we all ordered our food. Dimitri ordered chicken parmigiana, I ordered chicken piccata, and Lissa and Christian ordered a large portion of fettuccine with two plates to share.

“I’ll put that right in for you, sugar,” Natalie said, “I’ll make sure it’s good for you,” putting her hand on Dimitri’s arm again - and _winking _at him! I was ready to start punching, but I couldn’t decide if I was going to punch Dimitri or Natalie.

After a few minutes, I got an idea. I whispered in Dimitri’s ear, “Comrade, are you cooled down enough to stand up? I could stand a trip to the ladies’ room.”

Dimitri grinned and whispered back, “As long as you don’t whisper in my ear like that again, I am. Otherwise, I might have to go to the mens’ room and take care of something.”

I couldn’t resist. I whispered back, “You can take care of it now, but I’ll help you take care of it again later, Comrade. Just think happy thoughts about our time together before we came here this evening.”

I patted the top of Dimitri’s thigh and uttered a hasty, “Excuse me, please,” as we both stood, and headed towards the bathroom. I was secretly glad that Lissa didn’t follow me. The restrooms were down a little hallway and the two of us were alone in the hallway together. Outside the restroom doors, I pressed Dimitri up against the wall, cupping his thick and hardening length with my right hand and kissed him deeply. When I pulled away, Dimitri said, his voice low and husky, “What was that for, Roza?”

“I wanted to give you something to think about while you’re in there. Oh, and Dimitri: just so you know, I’ll be coming back to the table with my panties_ in my purse_.”

I saw Dimitri visibly swallow and he headed into the mens’ room, then I went into the ladies’ room, yanked off my panties, and folded them into my purse. I was finally thankful that Lissa was making me be a girly-girl through all of this whole ‘summer of fun’ she had us going through and had made me get a Brazillian wax a few weeks ago. Dimitri wouldn’t know what hit him when his fingers came in contact with bare skin.

A few minutes later, Dimitri and I were sitting side by side again at the table. “Did you take care of the things you needed to while you were away, Comrade?” I asked him.

Dimitri’s husky whisper back, in Russian, “_Da_, Roza. _Da_.” I didn’t know a lot of Russian, but I recognized ‘Yes’ when I heard it.

I whispered back, “So did I,” and gave him my man-eater smile.

“What’s all this whispering about from you two?” asked Christian.

“Oh, nothing,” I told him.

Dimitri answered, “I’m just a bit nervous about our date with both of you tonight and wanting to make a good impression.” _Smooth, Comrade. Very smooth_.

Lissa chimed in, “Well Dimitri, you have nothing to be nervous about. You’ve been such a gentleman to Rose and I’ve heard nothing but good things about you.” If Dimitri only knew half of all the things I had told Lissa about him. Liss and I had almost no secrets from each other.

Dimitri and Christian exchanged a weary glance. I knew Christian had a problem with Dimitri, but I wasn’t going to let it bother me. Dimitri turned from Christian to me, giving me a tentative look. He said, “I know that we haven’t known each other long, but I care about Rose very much.”

“If you care about Rose and treat her well, you’re okay with us,” Lissa said.

Christian appended, “But you better treat her well, Belikov. I’ve been teaching science classes long enough that I know how to make a body disappear.”

I could tell Dimitri was nervous as he replied, “I’ll do my best.”

I took a sip of my drink in one hand and used the other to separate the split in my skirt. Then, I took Dimitri’s hand in mine and cleared my throat as I placed it high on my inner thigh - high enough that he could feel the warmth of my core. Feeling his hand there, I instantly felt more heat pooling in my center. I was thankful that I had a supportive, thick, and snug enough bra that would hide my hardening nipples.

Dimitri let his hand sit there without going any further as Lissa asked him, “So, Dimitri, Rose tells us that you haven’t decided on a major yet. Do you have any thoughts on what you might want to do with school?”

“I can’t decide between working with children or some kind of law enforcement,” Dimitri said, “I like the idea of being a protector, using my strength to take care of others. And I love children. I’d like to have my own kids someday - not that I am in a hurry for it, though!” 

I cringed at the thought of being a mother. My own childhood wasn’t something I’d want to impart on anyone else by choice. But the whole baby-making process was a different story. I pulled Dimitri’s hand closer to my heated center, pressing his index finger to my clit. I tried to keep my face neutral as his finger began to lightly explore me. He was definitely unsure of what to do with his fingers and seemed to be letting his fingers run all over and investigating everything. It was definitely obvious that this was his first time touching a woman like this, but his touch was like fire on my skin and I couldn’t help but long for more.

“Have you ever taken care of a baby, Dimitri?” Lissa asked.

“What? Oh. I’ve been babysitting and changing diapers since before my nephew Paul was born,” Dimitri said, “He’s ten now.”

“Wow,” said Christian, giving Dimitri a scowl I couldn’t explain, “You must’ve been practically a baby when you started taking care of kids yourself.”

Dimitri scowled and replied, “It never felt that way. I grew up living with my mother, my grandmother, and three sisters. There was always plenty of guidance and support when I was unsure of what to do.”

Dimitri slipped the tip of his finger inside me and, without meaning to, I used my tight pelvic muscles to clamp down on his large, hot digit, letting out a slight gasp. Natalie came back to our table with a basket of garlic bread. “Here is our special garlic bread,” she told us, “I asked for extra garlic because I know you won’t be kissing anyone tonight,” and gave Dimitri another wink.

I scowled at her and said under my breath, “Natalie, the only person who won’t be kissing tonight is you.”

Natalie added, “Let me know if you need more. Can I get you all any drink refills?”

Dimitri’s glass was empty, but he didn’t make a move to ask for more. “Hot stuff, you look like you could use a refill,” said Natalie.

Dimitri gave what sounded like an exasperated sigh and said, “I guess so.”

I looked down at my own drink and realized I’d somehow downed the whole thing already. “I could use another one, too,” I told her, “As long as you’re buying the drinks, Nat.”

“Okay. I’ll be back with those in one minute,” Natalie said.

Dimitri began to pull his hand back so that he could use it to eat with and I tried to tug it back to my waiting core, but he was just much, much stronger than I am.

“What are you doing to me?” he whispered to me. Based on the way he said it, his voice sounded more clouded with lust than accusatory.

I whispered back, “I want you, Dimitri. Now.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, despite being in the booth with Lissa and Christian, my lips were on Dimitri’s, locked in a passionate kiss. I deepened the kiss and wrapped my arms around his neck. Dimitri accepted it willingly and opened his lips to my own, but a second later, Christian cleared his throat and Dimitri backed away.

“I’m sorry,” said Dimitri, “Sometimes with Rose, I just forget the rest of the world exists.” I looked down and noted that Natalie had brought our refills while we were kissing and had already left the table again. I picked it up and immediately gulped down half of the glass.

“Doesn’t it seem like you’re moving a little fast?” asked Christian, “I mean, this is only - what - the second date?”

“It’s the fourth, actually,” I told Christian, with a grin. 

Christian glared at Dimitri in a way that was all too accusing. “But it’s only been around two weeks since you met, right?” he asked.

“It’s not like we don’t know each other at all,” I told him, “We message each other constantly when we’re apart. Dimitri even shared his mother’s bread recipe with me.” 

At that moment, Natalie returned to the table again, asking, “How is your garlic bread, everyone? Rose, Dimitri, it doesn’t look like you’ve even touched it.”

I noticed that neither Dimitri nor I had taken any of the bread, so I reached in and grabbed a slice from the basket, placing it on my plate without taking a bite. Dimitri took the bread in his hand that had been plunging into me just moments ago and ate it quickly in two big bites, then licked his fingers, catching my eye as he took the finger that I knew had been plunging into me moments ago and licking it. “This taste is magnificent,” he said, still looking into my eyes, “I can’t wait to have more of it.”

“Well, there’s plenty more bread where that came from, gorgeous,” said Natalie, “I’ll be back soon to check on you all. Just let me know and I’d be glad to give you more.”

“I bet you would,” I grumbled as she walked away, getting ready for the claws and fangs to come out, and letting my hand fall back onto Dimitri’s rigid manhood, gripping him tightly.

As soon as Natalie was out of sight, Dimitri whispered to me, “Roza, you have to stop this. You’re driving me crazy.”

“Maybe that’s the way I want you,” I whispered back, gripping and pumping him through his dress pants.

“Could we save it for later, please?” he asked in my ear, “I really enjoy it, but I can’t focus when you do that. We can always pick this back up later.”

I nodded and released my hold on his erection. “Okay, Comrade, I’ll keep it to a minimum,” I told him, “but there better be a later.”

“There’s a whole lot of whispering over there. Too much, if you ask me,” Christian said with a glower.

Lissa giggled a little, grinned at him, and said, “That’s probably because they just had sex tonight. Am I right?”

Dimitri looked mortified. I seriously thought that if anyone were to actually face-palm himself in real life, this would be the expression leading into it. When you consider the fact that up until a few weeks ago, Christian was his teacher and now we were discussing his sex life in front of him, I could understand feeling uncomfortable.

“No,” I told her, “For your information, not that it’s any of your business, we did not have sex tonight. Yet.”

Dimitri pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes tight.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Dimitri said, looking at my eyes and searching for something that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“Fine,” I said, both to him and to Lissa and Christian, “I’ll be good. But Natalie better keep those drinks coming.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

Christian and Lissa had paid their bill and excused themselves to leave as soon as they both finished their plates. It had been a few moments of comfortable silence after they left while we each both finished our meal and I gently patted Dimitri’s knee.

As Dimitri licked the last bit of sauce and cheese off of his fork, he looked at me and said, “I’m glad we stayed. I’ve really enjoyed tonight. I really love being close to you, Roza. I’ve had a filling dinner and good conversation with a beautiful woman by my side. _Everything _that has passed my lips tonight was absolutely mouth-watering, too.”

I felt my cheeks heat at the thinly-hidden innuendo in his last statement.

“Maybe I should put something in my mouth a little later,” I told him, giving him my man-eating grin and feeling the liquid courage from the screwdrivers take away my fears of choking on his engorged length. Just because I’d only deep-throated a small penis before didn’t mean I couldn’t try to take on something _absolutely gigantic_. 

I giggled at the thought of just how scarily large his penis was. _Terrifyingly _large penis. So very frightening. Suddenly, my mind had wandered and I was picturing giant penises chasing me down. My man-eating smile dissolved into hysterical giggles. 

Oh god, the alcohol was hitting me harder than I thought it would. And Dimitri was just staring at my giggle fit like I had gone crazy. He knew I was drunk.

I looked at him apologetically. “I better get up and go to the bathroom now, Comrade. Could you please excuse me for a moment?”

“Sure, Roza,” Dimitri said, gently patting me on the back and then standing to let me out, “Take whatever time you need.”

When I got to the bathroom, I splashed some cold water on my face, popped a mint in my mouth, checked my eyes to make sure I didn’t look completely wasted, ran my fingers through my hair a few times, and headed back to the booth. As I arrived, I saw Natalie standing there, talking to Dimitri. She had unbuttoned the top two or three buttons on her shirt, showing a bit of bra and non-existent cleavage. Running the tip of her index finger across his chest, she said, “If you’re ever interested in something a little different, my number is on the receipt, handsome. Unlike some other girls that were here tonight, I will do _anything _you want in bed. And I mean _anything_.” 

Standing behind Natalie, I said, “Funny, because _I’m_ the one who’ll be paying for this meal,” and I got ready to pull my AmEx black card out of my purse with one hand, slapping my other hand on top of the receipt. Natalie quickly backed away, leaving us to work this out among ourselves.

“No, Rose,” Dimitri said, “I already told you I’m paying tonight.”

“That was before I knew some slut would try to hand you her number on the receipt,” I told him.

“I just want to pay for dinner, Rose. Is that such a bad thing?” said Dimitri, “I don’t even care about her number. And I’m planning to pay cash, so I don’t have any issue with leaving the receipt here if it matters that much to you.”

“Fine,” I huffed.

“Fine,” he said, with a nod.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

The car ride home was surprisingly quiet. Not in the comfortable way it had been earlier, either.

We got back to my house and I kissed Dimitri on the porch, putting my arms around his neck and half-using him to keep me from falling over when I closed my eyes. “Comrade, can you come inside with me now?” I asked, reaching down with one hand and shamelessly gripping his cock through his pants on the front porch, in front of any neighbors who might be watching out their windows, “I’d really love to pick up where we left off before dinner.”

Dimitri groaned. “Roza, even with the medication in my system and as much as I - _desperately _\- want to ... you’re drunk. And you’ve been trying all night to get my attention with sex because you’re so worried about this other girl who stole a _different _man from you, before.

“I won’t take advantage of you when you’ve been drinking, Roza. And I won’t have sex with you just to prove my loyalty or show you that you have my attention,” Dimitri ran a hand through his hair, freeing it from its tie, saying, “I don’t know if you are even doing this because you want _me _or if you’re still just pining for that other guy that got away. Or trying to prove that you can get someone that your absolutely hideous scrawny, pasty ex-roommate can’t.

“Roza, if you want my attention, you have it. You are the single most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. You have a flawless body and face, you are fierce, and amazing. I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you, even before the pills, and the way you’ve made my whole body feel all night tonight - even without the viagra - is the most heart-stoppingly thrilling thing I’ve ever felt. 

“I really care about you, Roza. More than I’ve ever cared about another woman. I want you to be my first. And, believe me, with those pills in my system, and with the way you have _teased _me - _ALL NIGHT TONIGHT_ \- my body is _more _than ready right now. But not tonight. Not like this.” Dimitri gave his head a small shake, kissed me on the forehead, and walked away towards his father’s house next-door. I felt like someone just poured a bucket of ice water down over me. How did I manage to fuck this night up so, so badly?

“And Roza?” Dimitri called out from his father’s door, “Take some time if you need it. Sleep this off. I’m not going anywhere, because I love you. I’m in love with you, Roza. I have never loved _anyone _else like you. I probably never will.”

I gasped at his proclamation, but before I could reply, Dimitri was inside the door and had shut it behind him. A single angry tear tracked down my cheek, but I wiped it away, put my key in the door and walked inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little longer but I didn’t want to drag the double-date out into yet another chapter. I hope you aren’t too unhappy with the way that they left things. Even with his youthful inexperience and drives, I just can’t see him being okay with having sex for the first time with a girl who is drunk and POSSIBLY only doing it to prove something about her past relationship. He’s just too honorable and has too much self-respect for that.


	19. Making it up to Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re back to young Dimitri’s perspective again, folks. Usual disclaimers apply.

I shook my head as I closed the door to Randall’s house. I set my car keys and cell phone down on the table in the entryway, kicked off my dress shoes, and loosened my tie. 

“Randall!” I called out, “It’s Dimitri. I’m back.” No reply.

For the first time in weeks, Randall wasn’t there when I had returned, possibly because of how early I had come back from my date with Rose. I was so thankful for that. I needed to be alone with my thoughts.

When Rose began stroking me under the table for the first time, I thought I’d explode right there. Honestly, if not for the four times today that I’d already climaxed before then, I probably would’ve. She was nearly relentless as long as the waitress was at the table doling out her ridiculous flirtations. I almost began to wish that Natalie would come back again so that Rose would just finish me off.

When Rose whispered in my ear again, I felt like that was the final kick I needed. I knew I was going to have to do something about it - and quickly. Feeling her push me up against the wall and kiss me, her hand stroking me, telling me she was going to get _rid of her panties_, was all the inspiration I needed to make quick work of things. I still managed to take longer than she did in the bathroom, but knowing that she had gotten rid of her panties almost had my hardness right back to where I was once I got back to the table.

I didn’t know if I was in heaven or hell when Rose placed my hand at her waiting core. I honestly had no idea what to do to pleasure her and the timing could not be worse than while we were at dinner with Christian, but I _definitely _wanted to explore her body. 

If Christian knew what was happening under the table, I’d be so busted. Or he would kill me and get rid of the body. And the erection was going to be turning painful soon. And the questions from Lissa and Christian were becoming harder and harder to focus on with Rose so tempting right beside me.

But … this was something I’d never had the chance to do before, with the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, a woman I _loved_. I would take this opportunity and enjoy it as long as I could handle it. When my fingers began probing her damp folds, I tried not to hiss in a shuddering breath. I could hardly believe how tight or how turned on Rose had been. And I was the one who had made her this turned on.

Feeling the tightness of her entrance and the muscles clamping down on my finger, I was so close to just picking Rose up and banging her on the table right there. It didn’t matter that we were in public or who else was watching. I could almost imagine just how perfect it would feel to sink into her body and finally be inside her.

When Natalie came back again, I’d hoped I’d imagined it, but it all started to become clearer. Rose’s muttered comments under her breath and asking for the second drink … which would eventually later lead to a third, and then a fourth drink. I frowned now at the thought.

I primarily took my hand back so that I could have my hand free to eat, but I also needed to stop all of the touching by then so that I could think with a clear head - and _also_ so that I could eat my food. When she tugged back on my hand, my brain clouded over with a lust-fueled haze. Her kiss seconds later only intensified that. And I couldn’t help but to taste Roza on my finger. Heaven. I would definitely need her core directly at my mouth later on. Definitely. If I ever had the chance. But not tonight.

After she let go of my cock for the last time at the restaurant and we finished the rest of our meals, I thought, “This is the way I could see the rest of my life going.” Dinner and effortless conversation with a beautiful woman I love by my side. She was funny, and interesting, and just great to be around. We didn’t even have to talk for the time together with Rose to be pleasurable. Just being there with her was enough.

But then Christian was there to question whether we had known each other well enough. Did I love her? Yes, without a doubt. Did I know her well enough? I had thought so before everything happened with Natalie later on tonight. Roza was brave, fierce, radiant, kind, and just beautiful inside and out, but not this childish little girl I was seeing who was so petty and willing to drink herself under the table like my father or fool around just for the sake of jealousy. I didn’t want my first time to be with a girl who was drunk. And I didn’t want my first time to be out of jealousy that had nothing to do with me and everything to do with another girl and another guy. I wanted it to be out of love.

For two weeks now, I’d kept my feelings to myself. And then, I opened my mouth tonight and told her. 

It’s too soon. I know it was too soon. I shouldn’t have said anything. Especially with the way I left things tonight.

It doesn’t matter, though. I don’t think Rose loves me back yet. And now she probably won’t love me back. I don’t even know if she would want to see me again.

It was probably better that I didn’t get to have sex with her than that I did and then she broke my heart.

I ran my hand through my hair again and heard my phone chime. It was the sound of a new text message. Before I could get to my phone and open it to look at the message, three more chimes came through.

**_Rose:_** _I’m really sorry, Dimitri. _

** _Rose:_ ** _ I really like you. _

** _Rose:_ ** _ Could we please go out again tomorrow? I promise I’ll take you somewhere that I can’t grope you in public or drink. ;-)_

** _Rose:_ ** _ Since I’m the one who asked you out, I’d really prefer to pay, though, if it’s OK with you._

I smiled and typed back ‘Sure’. 

I hit send and thought about how her hand was caressing me through my pants so much tonight, along with all of the other things I’d seen and felt from her. Was it ‘groping’? Sure, I guess. Was it unwanted? Not at all. Although it hadn’t been the best of timing, the feel of her had been so exciting. I’d never been so turned on in my whole life. Just thinking about it was getting me erect again. I headed upstairs to shower and rid myself of my latest viagra- and Rose-induced erection.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

When I got to Rose’s door again on Saturday, she had told me to dress for being outdoors, so I had worn a black tank and some tan cargo shorts. She told me the location was a surprise, so I left it up to her.

When I saw Roza, she was as sexy as she had been in the wrap dress the previous night, wearing a red halter top that showed her toned abs and just enough cleavage to be enticing with a pair of loose-fitting, short shorts that flared out at the sides, looking almost like a tiny little skirt, and a pair of leather sandals that had straps wrapping around her ankles. Her hair, pulled up in a braid on each side, was hanging long and soft along the back of her otherwise-bare shoulders. I was glad that the viagra was gone, both because I was absolutely sure that seeing this outfit on her would’ve caused another unwanted erection with it and because I feel like taking it yesterday had been a good exercise in self-control and restraint - albeit one that I would never want to repeat.

“Dimitri,” she said, with a smile, “I know we had been texting back and forth, but a part of me still wasn’t sure if you were going to come - after last night, I mean. I’m glad you came. Could you come in for a minute while I get my things? Lissa is home right now.”

I nodded and we headed inside, mentally laughing a little at the fact that I’d almost forgotten Lissa lived there because she had been gone the last few times I’d visited. Rose ran up the stairs and Lissa was sitting on the couch flipping through movies on the TV.

“Hi Dimitri,” Lissa said as I walked inside, “Thanks for coming out with us last night. I know Christian can be a little intimidating, but he means well. For what it’s worth, we all had a really nice time.” She smiled at me and quickly appended, “ - well, except for Natalie.”

“Thanks, Lissa,” I told her, “I had a nice time, too. Rose is very special and I always enjoy being with her. Even last night. Most of it, anyways.”

Lissa said, “You know, Rose feels really bad about the way things went last night. She’s hoping to make it up to you tonight. We even got my sister Jill to help with the date.”

Rose walked back down the stairs and said, “Don’t go spoiling any surprises now, Liss.”

Suddenly, something in my brain clicked and I began panicking. Jill. I knew those green eyes of Lissa’s looked a little too familiar. “Lissa, is your sister’s name Jill Dragomir?” I asked, hoping against hope that I was wrong about who Jill was.

Lissa nodded, saying, “Her name _is _Jill, but her last name is actually Mastrano. She has a different mom than me and her stepdad had adopted her when she was little. She is a junior in high school at St. Vladimir’s right now. Why do you ask?”

Oh shit. My ex-girlfriend is Lissa’s sister. And she helped plan our date for tonight. At least we parted on good terms.

“I was thinking you looked familiar. I think I might know Jill. Will we be seeing her tonight?” I asked.

“Actually,” said Rose, “I’m not sure if Jill will be there, but she did seem to recognize your name when I mentioned it. You ready to head out, Comrade?”

Just then, I got a text message. “Do you mind if I check this?” I asked.

“Go ahead, Comrade. I’ll wait.”

** _Jill:_ ** _ Are you going out with Rose Mazur?_

I knew she’d find out sooner rather than later, so I bit the bullet and texted back:

** _Me: _ ** _ Yes._

** _Jill:_ ** _ She doesn’t know how old you are, does she?_

** _Me:_ ** _ No. I’d like to be the one to tell her, but I just haven’t found a good time to do it yet. _

** _Jill:_ ** _ If you are both happy, I won’t be the one to tell her. _

“Should we head out, Dimitri?” Rose asked, sliding her cell phone and a credit card into her shorts pocket and grabbing a car key off of a hook by the door, “And do you mind if I drive?”

“Go for it,” I told her. 

Rose picked up a cloth bag next to the door and we walked out to her car. She put the bag in the trunk while I buckled into the passenger side, then she got in and buckled up.

“Before we go, Comrade, do you trust me?” Rose asked.

I swallowed deeply. “Yes. I think,” I told her with a slight crack in my voice.

“Open up the glove compartment,” she said. 

Inside it was a quilted, silk-covered, black-out sleep mask. “Put it on,” Rose said. I did, and she started the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, now we have one more person in on Dimitri’s secret. How long do you think all of these people are going to be able to keep the secret from Rose?  
I really had a big internal battle with myself about how much punctuation to use on the text messages and how long to make each one in the text messages, especially from Rose and Jill. I am an oddball in that I tend to be pretty thorough on the punctuation within text messages and sometimes write things that are way too long for a text, but I know that a lot of other people aren’t like that, especially millennials and younger. Finally, I just tried to write it like I would and then do a few minor edits. I hope it doesn’t seem too out of character.  
If, by chance, you have been on FanFiction dot net in the past few weeks, check your PMs. They aren’t sending email notifications of new messages and haven’t been for a while now.  
P.S. In my mind, Rose would be driving a Nissan Juke here. I really love the Nissan Juke. It just seems like a cute little car. Personally, I’d go emerald green on that, but since it’s Rose, I’m imagining it would probably be either red or black (or the Juke actually has a “Nizmo” package model that is a combination of the two colors. There is a little video of what the Juke looks like on my Facebook page if anyone is interested).


	20. Hot Car

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy  
There is some seriously mature sexual content ahead  
No one but me has edited this story

As soon as I put on the sleep mask, visions danced in my head of sexual things Rose could be doing to me while blindfolded. Even after everything that went wrong last night, If it came down to doing sexual things, I was pretty sure that I would let her do anything she wanted to me, but I wasn’t going to let her know that just yet.

Rose asked me, “You can’t see out of it, can you?”

“No. What is the mask for?” I asked her.

“So you don’t know where we’re going until we get there, Comrade.”

“So, it’s not a kinky sex thing?” I asked.

“Do you want it to be?” she replied. I could almost hear the apprehension in her voice, “Because after last night, I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to …” she trailed off.

“Roza,” I told her, “I told you my feelings for you last night. I’m not _un_comfortable with the idea of being intimate with you, at all. But I want it to be about ‘us’ and not about something else. And I don’t want to take advantage when you’re drunk or emotionally vulnerable.”

“Really, Comrade?” she asked.

I reached out my hand for where I knew her knee would be and placed it on her leg. “Really.” After a few moments, I added, “But I’d still prefer my first time be somewhere private. And not in a car.” 

Rose chuckled lightly. “I think that can be arranged,” she said. 

In that moment, Roza’s husky voice had never sounded sexier. I wanted her. I had no idea what she planned for tonight, but I knew we’d be outdoors and other people were involved. I also knew that Rose wasn’t sure when she had made the plans if I was willing to be close to her or not. I wasn’t planning to have sex in the car, but I was sure that there were boundaries we’d already crossed that I wanted to cross again. Immediately.

“Are we going to be in the car for a while?” I asked her.

“Actually, yeah,” said Rose, “It’s about twenty minutes from here.”

I trailed my hand up her silky thigh. I had stared at her body enough times that - even blindfolded - I had a pretty good idea of where my fingers were heading. When I reached the hem of her shorts, I ran my fingers across the length of the fabric. “If you wanted, Roza, I could pick up where I left off before the garlic bread came last night now. I suppose you might have to pull over and remove something first, though. And I could probably use some guidance as to how to do things.”

“Where you left off before the bread came?” she asked, “Now that I’m the one concentrating instead of you?”

“If that’s okay with you, I mean,” I told her.

Roza’s reply was breathy as she said, “It’s more than okay.”

A few moments later, I felt the car pull over onto the shoulder and come to a stop. The engine shut off, I heard the click of a seatbelt, and Rose placed my hand back in my own lap. I heard some rustling and the squeak of the leather of her seat. I tried to put my hand back on Rose’s knee, but she pushed it away.

“One second, Comrade,” Rose said, “I need my shorts around my ankles so that I can pull them back on later.”

“You’re going to be naked from the waist down, except for some shorts around your ankles?” I asked her.

“Don’t be silly,” she told me, “I wasn’t going to try to unfasten the straps on those shoes. Those things were a bitch to get on in the first place.”

Knowing her center was completely bare in the car, just feet away from me, I could already feel my shorts tightening around my growing member and realized that this would be another exercise in control for me, since it would have to be all about her body. “Let me know when you’re ready,” I told her.

“I can even do better than that,” she said, “You said you want guidance, Comrade?”

“_Da_,” was all I could manage. I hadn’t even been able to say it in English.

I heard the engine start back up and felt the car pulling back out onto the road. I felt Rose take my hand in hers and move my fingers so that only one was extended, then pulled my hand to near where her face would be. “You’ll want to start with just the pad of your finger on my clit,” she told me, “And, if you can, you’ll always want to start with it wet.” 

An instant later, I felt her soft, warm tongue circling my fingertip, shooting heat straight to my cock as I imagined what else she could do with her beautiful mouth. Then, Rose guided the moistened finger to her already-wet folds, pushing the finger between them, up against her entrance. Rose let out a deep breath.

“Mmm, Comrade, I can’t tell you how nice it’ll be to not have to be quiet while your fingers are there,” Rose purred.

Rose’s hand was still pressed against mine when she wrapped and overlaid her left hand with my own, pressing down on the extended finger slightly. “Do you feel that, Comrade?” she asked, moving her finger from side to side slightly, “Right there?”

As my finger tilted back and forth from her guidance, I felt a small bump that began to grow swollen and rigid. Rose pulled her hand away and I circled the little spot with my finger. I asked her, “You mean this?”

“Yesss …” she nearly hissed, “Tha-that’s my clit.” I swirled my finger over it again and Rose took a shaky deep breath, making both of us more aroused. “Very good, Comrade,” she told me, “Do you think you could find it by touch on your own now?”

I answered her honestly, “I don’t know, but I’d love to try.”

Rose pulled my hand away and put it in my lap, saying, “Go for it.” 

I could almost hear the man-eating smile in her tone of voice. I want to marry this woman. I extended my hand towards her core and she told me, “Nuh-uh-uh, Comrade. Start at the knee,” placing my hand back on her knee.

As I began to trail my hand up her leg again, she reminded me, “Wet.” 

Obediently, I took my finger to my mouth licked it, running my tongue across it in tiny little licks, savoring the taste of her on it and making sure it was thoroughly dampened. I heard Rose moan and knew I was doing something right. Her moan, the brief touching of her core I already had, and her taste were driving me crazy already. 

I placed my hand back on her knee, careful to keep the wetted finger from touching her yet, and began trailing my hand up her silky bare leg. I knew she would prefer me to move slowly, but it was excruciating not to just bury my finger inside her and feel her clamp down on me. Once my fingers traced the length of her leg and I felt the warmth of her little honeypot approaching, I slid my wet finger out and extended it to her folds. It took me a few seconds to get it in the right spot, but I knew when I had found it, both by the different feel of that spot and by Roza’s breathy moan.

“_Very, very_ good, Comrade,” she told me. I was beginning to love her little nickname for me as I heard it in this tone of voice from her. “Now, can you circle that spot with your finger? Just little tiny circles right there?”

I did as Roza asked. Each time my fingers made another revolution, she would moan again and her moans got louder each time. As the sounds of her pleasure filled the car, my dick was straining against my zipper more and more.

As my finger continued to circle, Roza told me between moans, “That whole area is going to be very sensitive, but a lot of the nerve endings are focused on my clit. If you wanted, you could probably even get me to come with just that spot. On the other hand, once you’ve gotten me going, there’s no reason not to explore a little. You could insert a finger inside now, if you’d like. But you might want to stimulate my clit more while you do it.”

_Yes!_ _This was exactly where I wanted to be!_ I slowly moved my finger down until I found her slit and slid my fingertip inside, brushing the full length of my finger along her clit as I used it to penetrate her, moving it in as deep as I could. Roza cried out in pleasure at the feel, then breathed out, “Sliding your finger in and out will feel almost like you’re fucking me. I mean, it won’t feel as full as it would if we were actually having sex, but it will stimulate some of the same spots.” I moved my finger out and slid it back in, making sure to run the length of my finger up against her clit each way. Roza cried out in pleasure with each pass, tightening the muscles around my finger. I did it a few more times, desperately wishing I could see her beautiful face flushed with pleasure. My cock was straining against my shorts as I heard her cries of pleasure and felt her tight core wrapped around my finger.

I ran my finger back in and out again, cursing in Russian at her unbelievable body wrapped around my finger. Even though I knew Roza had no idea what I was saying, she moaned again at the sound of my cursing.

“If you were doing this as a warm-up to sex,” Rose panted out, “You would probably also want to insert another finger or two, and possibly even spread them a bit, as an effort to stretch me out in preparation for something - Oh fuck! - larger, but right now it’s not really necessary … If you’d like now, though, you could begin to sort of curl your finger inward towards my belly button on each pass, to hit my ... g-spot,” I did as she suggested and she immediately followed that up with, “Oh goddamnit! Dimitri, you really _are _a god! I’m … I’m … ungh … I’m … coming! Ngh! _DIMITRI_!!!” A heartbeat later, I felt her core tightening and contracting around my finger, I rubbed the tip of my finger up against the spot that seemed to be magical to her as I felt her tight center constricting again and again.

“Oh my god, Dimitri, I … Dimitri ... ” she paused for a moment. I just liked the sound of my name on her lips in that tone. Hearing her saying and screaming my name at the height of her pleasure. My erection was leaking so much that I would’ve been surprised if there wasn’t a wet spot on the front of my shorts, but even if I never saw her again, I would have mental images of the sound of her voice and the feel of her sex wrapped around my finger for months to come. “No other man has ever made me come before,” she said, “And now you’ve done it twice. I’m kind of speechless.”

A moment later, I felt the car being pulled over again. “Take your blindfold off,” Rose told me.

I pulled off the mask and saw that we were in the middle of nowhere, pulled off the road. I looked down and saw that there was a huge tent in my pants with a big wet spot. I began to untuck my tank top to cover it, asking Rose, “Are we here? Wherever we’re supposed to be going?”

“No, Comrade, look at me.” 

I looked over and saw Roza sitting there with her body completely bare from rib cage to calves, her legs spread wide and her beautiful folds glistening with her near-dripping wetness. “Beautiful,” I uttered, not able to contain my thoughts looking at her. I felt my cock straining to get to her, made even worse as I saw a slight blush color her cheeks.

“I wanted you to see me before I cover back up,” she said and I felt myself frowning until she added, “and I thought I might like you to lose the blindfold while I return the favor for what you just did.”

I cocked an eyebrow at her. “What did you have in mind?” I asked.

Roza gave a lilting little laugh, saying, “I wish I could do that with my eyebrow. Lean your seat back and uncover yourself, ribs to knees.” I sat there dumbfounded and then she added, “Now, Comrade. We have somewhere to be and this road won’t stay empty forever.” 

I did as she asked, reclining the seat and began unbuttoning my shorts. I looked over to see her pulling her shorts back into place. Roza looked at me and smiled as I began to tug my waistband down. It was probably silly, but - not knowing what she thought about it or what her intentions this evening were - I was still somewhat nervous about being naked in front of her.

As if she could read my mind, Roza said, “Comrade, are you ... _nervous_?”

I chuckled and said, “How do you know these things?”

Roza smiled. “Dimitri, I promise I’m not going to steal your virtue in the car tonight. If you’d like, I don’t have to do anything that I haven’t done to you before. I just want to see you - and touch you.”

“_You_ want to? Or you feel like I want you to?” _Please say you want to. Please say you want to._

“I want to, Comrade. Badly. I couldn’t get enough when I was touching you the other night. _Please_, Comrade.” At hearing her begging for it like that, I pulled down my shorts and underwear as fast as I could.

As soon as my shorts were down, she reached across and began running her fingers along my shaft with one hand and cupping my testicles with the other. Despite having given myself release a few times earlier that day, I could tell it wouldn’t take much to bring me to completion. I looked at her beautiful face, her exotic brown eyes focused on my hard manhood in her hands.

“Dimitri,” she breathed, “would it be okay if I were to use my mouth?”

I nearly gasped at her suggestion. Roza was asking me if she could put her mouth on my shaft. “God, yes!” I replied.

The car was an automatic transmission, but it still had the shifter in the center, so there was a stick and a console with an armrest between our seats. Within moments, Roza was hunched over the center console and her mouth was kissing down my abs while her hands stroked. I tangled my hands in her beautiful hair, watching her path of kisses.

“Hold my hair back? So I don’t end up eating it?” she asked me as she licked a circle around my belly button. I gently pulled it back into a loose ponytail and held it out of the way. Pulling her hair back also made it so that I had a clearer view of what she was doing. Rose wrapped her lips around the end of my shaft and I couldn’t help the wordless yell that came from me. Rose swirled her tongue around my tip and looked up at me with a wicked grin with her mouth still wrapped around me, pumping with her hand along my length, and I lost all control. The feel of her warm, wet mouth and her hand pumping me, combined with the visual of seeing her like that sent me straight over the edge. As my seed spilled into her still-sucking mouth, I gripped the armrest and threw my head back, yelling out, “Roza! Fuck! Roza, I love you so much! Oh fuck! Oh, Roza!” Rose continued to lick and suck for another few moments as I rode out the rest of my climax, then she released my member and gave it a soft kiss on the tip.

Rose looked up at me and smiled, then sat back and said, “We should probably get going. Once you have your shorts back on, could you put the mask back on?”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

When the car took off again, I began reflecting in silence on the events that had just taken place. Roza had called me a god. I had felt her orgasming around my finger. I had seen her most intimate parts. She had wrapped her beautiful mouth around me and drank down my orgasm with a smile. And I had told her that I loved her again. 

And she still hadn’t said it back in return.

But even if she was too drunk to realize or remember that I had said it last night, she definitely knew I had said that I love her now.

With every touch, with every moment we got closer, I was falling harder and harder for Rose. If she left me now, I would be a broken man. How was I supposed to tell her now? Especially if she didn’t feel the same about me.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Rose asked, breaking me out of my reverie, and lacing her fingers with mine over the center console.

“This,” I said, “with you, it’s just a lot. Everything has changed so much since you came into my life, Roza. Nothing will ever be the way it was again.”

Rose asked me, “You don’t regret that, do you?”

Without hesitation, I replied, “No. But it’s just all happened so fast. I’m not sure I was ready for this.”

Roza lifted our clasped hands to her mouth and kissed the back of mine. “I feel the same way,” she said, “But I’m glad. My life wouldn’t be the same without you.”

I felt the car slowing and then come to a stop. “We’re here, Comrade,” Roza told me, “You can take off the blindfold now.”

I removed the mask and saw something completely unexpected.

“You brought me to a family fun center?” I asked her.

Rose smiled at me as our eyes met. “Yes. Jill got a job here a few weeks ago and helped me set it up. What’s not to like? Mini golf, an old-school video arcade, go-karts, bumper cars, a ferris wheel. There’s even a ropes course, if we want to try it. C’mon, we have the go-karts reserved in 5 minutes. It’ll be fun!”

I smiled as Rose got out and led me to the go-karts. Amazing how a woman so much older than me could make me feel so happy to feel like a little kid again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally intended for this chapter to include the entirety of the actual date, but I think I got carried away with the hot, sweaty fun in the car. Hopefully no one minds if I went long on that part? I don’t know how much of the actual date I’ll want to include, but Rose and Dimitri having sex should be happening sometime in the next three chapters.


	21. Family Fun (Center)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill: no ownership rights to anything but my own plot, error-ridden text no one else helped with, and some of this might be grown-up.

**Rose’s POV:**

I was so nervous about this date. After last night, I really wanted it to go well. Dimitri really surprised me with everything that happened in the car on the way here, but it was way more amazing than I could’ve ever hoped for. 

I love Dimitri. I’m sure of it. But love isn’t something I take lightly. I have told Lissa that I love her and my parents have each heard it a handful of times, but that is it. I never said it to Jesse, despite giving him my virginity, and in hindsight, that’s something I’m very glad of. Part of me still wished I had waited for the right guy to come around. That I had waited for _Dimitri _to come around.

On the other hand, I never felt it for Jesse, either. Love, I mean. It was still a mystery to me how I could know Dimitri for so short a period of time and feel so connected to him like this. I had never felt like this before and there was absolutely no explanation. 

Dimitri had my heart and if he wanted to, he could smash it into a billion pieces with one word. I know he’s ‘innocent’ compared to me and it’s not like I want to corrupt him, but I do have to admit that it makes me trust him just a little bit more. In the short time I’ve known him, I have no reason to, but I trust him. With sex and _everything _else. I want to be his first. I want to be his everything. 

I just hope he’s being completely honest with me.

I had been trying to wait for the exact right time to tell Dimitri that I loved him, but it just never came. I very nearly said it without meaning to when he made me come in the car. I only just stopped myself from blurting it out. I can’t just let myself _say _it. It has to be right.

I took Dimitri’s hand and led him to the go-karts, excited for the chance to just have fun together. 

“Did we want to have a shared kart or each drive our own?” I asked him. I had hoped to stay close to him, but I knew it could also be fun if we each got the chance to drive our own kart.

Dimitri scratched his chin looking at the side-by-side seats in the two-seater kart closest to us. “I don’t know. I’d like to share, but do we both get a chance to drive if we share?”

I grinned at him. It was like we were on the same train of thought. “We get two sessions with seven laps around the track each. We could switch places between laps?”

Dimitri smiled back and replied, “Perfect,” then he gave me a peck on the lips and we got the attendant to give us helmets and strap us in.

There wasn’t a lot of talking while we were on the track, but it just felt good to be together. Dimitri and I each whipped the car around the turns, careening into each other on each one. It was nice just to laugh and have fun. We even held hands while speeding into the straightaways. Fifteen minutes later, Dimitri and I were circling into the final lap.

“That was incredible, Roza!” Dimitri said, removing his helmet, “I’ve never been on a go-kart before.”

I laughed, pulling my own helmet off. “Really, Comrade? That makes two firsts for you today, doesn’t it?”

Dimitri’s cheeks turned pink as he scratched the back of his neck and unfastened his seatbelt. “It might.”

“You ready for some mini golf?” I asked him, getting out of the kart.

“If I am, that would make another first,” he chuckled.

I grinned at him as I asked, “You’ve never been mini golfing?”

“No,” he said, “Randall always had a lot of money, but my mama did not. With nine mouths to feed, it never went very far. Responsibilities always just seemed to take precedence over fun.”

I frowned. “And you paid last night,” I told him, “Even though the restaurant was really expensive.”

Dimitri pulled me aside so that I was facing him and put a hand on my cheek. His fingertips threaded through my hair as he tilted my face up towards his and looked me in the eyes. “Roza,” he told me. I loved Dimitri’s accent and there was something so indescribably sexy about his using the Russian form of my name like that! “I wanted to be able to pay last night. Being with you like, being able to give you a nice dinner and spend time together talking and having good food, side by side like that was exactly where I wanted to be. I may not have a lot of money and I may give a lot of it to my family, but I enjoyed being able to spend it on you.” The depths of his dark brown chocolate eyes were amazing. I felt like he could look right into my soul.

“Except when Natalie came to the table?” I asked.

Dimitri shrugged. “I probably could have used to have not had her as our waitress last night,” he said, “but I have to admit that what you did to me when she was at the table was the most,” he kissed me lightly on the tip of my nose, “exciting,” he kissed me on the cheek, “enticing,” he kissed the other cheek, “arousing,” he kissed my chin, “exquisite, sensual torture I have ever experienced before.” Dimitri kissed my lips long enough to gently nip my bottom lip just slightly. 

“I also probably would’ve appreciated it much more if I hadn’t taken those pills beforehand.”

“And if I hadn’t had four drinks with my dinner?” I internally groaned.

Dimitri kissed my forehead and pulled me close for a hug, with his hands behind my shoulder blades, saying, “It was five, but at least I didn’t have to pay for them.”

I groaned, but then Dimitri said, “And besides, for maybe the first time ever at a restaurant with table service, I didn’t leave a tip.”

I looked up at Dimitri’s face and he smirked. “What?” he asked, “Right before you came back to the table, she told me not to leave her a tip and to call her to go out sometime instead. She got half her wish.”

Dimitri kissed my lips again and looked into my eyes. “Now, then, I believe I was promised a chance to play mini golf for the first time?” he asked.

“I think you were, Comrade,” I told him.

“Well, lead the way.” Dimitri took my hand as I directed us to the mini golf course.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

**Dimitri’s POV:**

“Comrade, you suck at this,” Rose told me as she watched me looking like Quasimodo hunched over my putter that was at least a foot too short and haphazardly swatting at the little orange ball over and over again, “This might be the only thing I have ever seen you do that you’re absolutely horrible at. This is a par six hole and you’re at twelve now. Just give up and we’ll move on to the next one.”

I don’t know why, but thanks to my sisters, I always pictured mini golf being this super-romantic thing where the guy puts his arms around the girl and moves in close. Oh, how wrong I was.

We walked up to the next hole and Rose sunk her ball in one putt. “Ah!” she exclaimed, “There it goes, right in the hole. Right. In. The. Hole.” Rose chuckled as she licked her lips seductively. 

Between Rose talking about going in the hole and the way she licked her lips, she was definitely doing things to me. Damnit, focus - another erection will _not_ help the hunching over this tiny little golf club!

I began putting again, but I just wasn’t having any luck. Only five more holes to play and then I never have to do this again. “If you don’t stop whacking it so hard like that,” Rose said, “Your shaft’s going to get all bent.”

Now, she was doing it on purpose. I smirked and tried to ignore her.

“Aww, Comrade, there’s a little river if you miss on the hole after next. Your ball’s going to get all _wet_.” I smacked the little ball again. It bounced off a barrier and rolled right over the hole.

“You need to spread your legs a little more,” Rose told me with that man-eating grin again, “and keep your head down.” I growled as I continued swatting at the little ball with the tiny stick.

“Adjust your grip,” she continued as I hit it for the fourth time this hole, “Try choking down on the _shaft _a little more.” This woman would be the death of me!

“Seriously, Comrade, you need to work on your stroke a little, or you’ll never get it in the hole.” I actually heard Rose snicker at that one. I took my shot and then looked over at her and shot her a dirty glare.

“Okay, that was five and this was a par five,” Rose said, “I’m sorry, Comrade.” I’d had enough. I moved up to her and took her in my arms and pressed her body tight up against my own, kissing her ferociously. Without even trying to, I was pressing my hard manhood up against her belly.

As I broke the kiss, Rose said to me, “Wow, this is really getting to you Comrade, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” the word practically ripped out of me.

“I’ll help you on the next hole,” Rose told me, “but I might have to get a little creative.”

After Rose finished sinking her ball into the hole in three shots - this one was trickier, even for her - she came up beside me, saying, “Get in position like you’re going to putt it, but don’t take the shot. I did as she instructed and then Rose stood in front of me and took my hands and repositioned them. “I’m gonna try to do the whole ‘I help you putt from behind’ thing, but seeing that you’re practically a giant and I can’t see over you, I don’t know how well that will work.”

I chuckled at her assessment of my height. True, I am over six and a half feet tall, but I’d hardly call myself a giant. 

As Rose came up to stand behind me, I felt her breasts against my back and her arms wrapped around me. “Damnit, Comrade,” she said, placing her hands on the inside of my own arms and craning her neck around my side, “this would be so much easier if I were the taller one.”

As she stretched to see around me, one of her arms bent lower and she painfully elbowed me in the stomach. 

“Dimitri! I’m so sorry!” Rose cried, and began gently rubbing my stomach where she had elbowed me. 

Unfortunately, where she was rubbing was very close to the upper tip of my quickly hardening erection. I let out a low, throaty moan at the sensation.

“Later, Comrade,” Rose chuckled, positioning my arms again and placing a chaste kiss on my tricep as she craned to look around again, “It’s time to sink this ball.” 

With Rose’s hands pushing and directing my arms, I made another putt, far gentler than I had been hitting the ball on my own. It felt completely different from all of the other attempts and she had helped me aim it at a side wall instead of directly at the hole. In one roll, the little orange ball bounced off of the side and sank effortlessly into the hole. 

My eyes widened in surprise at how easily it went in. I sat there gaping at the ball in the hole. Rose had made what I believed to be impossible happen. _Effortlessly_. 

Yet again, Rose showed me that she possessed an amazing ability to do nearly anything she set her mind to. In one instant, I thought to myself, _Rose makes everything that I thought was _impossible_, possible_. She was so amazing. Maybe I could tell her the truth and it wouldn’t change anything between us.

“God, would you look at them?” asked Rose, drawing me out of my thoughts, “What pains in the asses!”

“Who?” I asked.

“Them. Those kids over there.” Rose pointed across to the other end of the golf course. I looked over and saw a couple of underclassmen I had seen from St. Vladimir’s. One of the boys was taking selfies while he was humping a statue while the other two were smearing ice cream into the benches along the course. I didn’t know any of them personally, but they weren’t that much younger than I was. “I’m glad we’re both old enough to have grown out of that phase,” Rose added.

“Yeah,” I said.

_I could never tell her._

\--=o0/&\0o=--

“Dimitri, I had an amazing time tonight,” Rose told me as she stopped the engine on the car.

“I did too.”

“I am really glad we could spend time together again. Hopefully this made up for last night?” she asked.

“It did,” I told her with a smile.

“I’m really tempted to ask you to come in with me,” she said, “but Lissa’s home tonight. Plus, after last night, maybe it’s better if we don’t. At least, not just yet.”

I mentally frowned, but I said, “Okay, Roza.”

She leaned in and kissed me. I let my hand tangle into her beautiful silky hair as I deepened the kiss. For a moment, Rose let her hands wander along the planes of my chest, even dipping down below my navel for a few moments, before I felt Rose pulling back from the kiss.

“Comrade, I should probably call it a night now and we could both head inside or I might be forced to violate that whole ‘not in a car’ thing you told me on the way here.”

“Okay, Roza,” I said again.

“Text me when you get to your bedroom for the night?” she said, sounding more like a question than a directive, “I have something I’d like to show you.”

I nodded, gave her another quick kiss, and then we both got out of the car, said goodnight, and went our separate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a plan for where I want the rest of the story to go and we’re looking at maybe a dozen more chapters until the end, at most. Before I write the next several chapters, is there anything you really want to see (or don’t want to see)? Any characters that you’d like to appear or appear again? Any interactions you’d like to see happen? We’re in the home stretch now, but the last little bit isn’t set in stone yet, so here’s your chance. I can’t promise I’ll write everything that gets requested (for example, if it goes against the nature of how I see the characters or can’t fit in with what I’m already planning), but I am willing to try.  
Feel free to comment/review here, send me a PM if you’re on FanFiction, or send a note on Facebook (page on profile) if you want to have an impact on this story.


	22. Strip?  Tease?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy (could be wild creativity, luck, or some sort of supernatural involvement)  
There is mature sexual content in this chapter  
No beta reader has been on this and I miss stuff, so please forgive anything proofreading should have caught  
Just a warning: there will be a few speed-bumps in this chapter. I apologize in advance for the buzzkill that will be occurring

Of course, as soon as I got inside, Randall had a million and one things for me to do. I texted a quick message to Rose to let her know it’d be a while before I was done and got straight to work.

An hour later, I was finally on the stairs to my room. I pulled out my cell phone and began to text. I knew it would take a while to type it all in. My family has always been on a budget and Randall was too cheap to get me my own phone on his plan, so it is a cheap bare-bones 12-key flip phone. I have to keep hitting a number multiple times to get the right letters to come out.

By the time I pressed send, I was already entering my room, but - as always, during the summer when the window was open - I had left the room light off. 

Rose had pretty much instantly called me. I answered and she said, “When you get to your room, lock your door and look out your window, Comrade. Quick, before I lose my nerve.”

I flipped on the light and clicked the lock on the door, then looked out the window. Rose was standing in the middle of her room with her hair up in a silky-looking bathrobe with her door closed, smiling at me.

“I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while now and have had it all planned out for a week or so. I debated whether I was going to do this, though,” Rose said, “Especially after last night. But with what happened in the car, I think we’re ready.”

“Ready? Ready for what, exactly?” I asked.

“For what I’m going to show you. You’ll see. Does your cell phone have a speaker?” Rose asked me.

“Yes,” I verbalized as I nodded at her.

“Is your dad going to hear if you put your phone on speaker?”

I looked around. Last time I had seen him, Randall was in the living room downstairs, getting drunk off of his ass and watching a basketball game. If I knew my father like I did, he would probably fall asleep watching the game. As long as the television was on and my door was closed, the sound wouldn’t carry too much.

“No, it should be fine. He’s downstairs,” I told her.

“Okay,” she said, putting her own phone on speaker and setting it on the nightstand, “So put me on speaker and put the phone down, Comrade. And get comfortable.”

I pressed the speaker button and put the phone near my bed, then laid back, using my arms to prop up my head so I could see her. I wasn’t sure what Roza had in store, but I had a feeling I was going to like it. “Now what did you have to show me?” I asked her. My accent felt thicker than usual as I watched Roza with Rapt attention.

“One second,” she said. I saw her flick through a few things on her phone screen and then some music started to play and Roza moved her hips almost hypnotically to the rhythm.

“What’s this song?” I asked.

Roza gave me that same killer smile that made my dick instantly turn to granite. “It’s called ‘Naughty Girl’. It’s by Beyoncé. Do you like it?”

As I continued to watch the circular sway of her hips in time to the music, I told Roza, “It’s growing on me quickly.”

Roza pulled loose the tie on her robe and the bow loosened to a single knot, then she spun so that her back was to me and pulled the knot free. All while still swaying those luscious curvaceous hips.

I swallowed thickly. “Roza … Is this … Is this a … strip tease?” I asked. _ Please, on all that is holy, let this be a strip tease! Please!_

She turned her head, looking me in the eye over her shoulder, still giving me that smouldering man-eating smile, but I could almost see a hint of nervousness behind it, and said, “It might be. Do you want it to be?” All the while, her beautiful hips continued to sway and she looked me in the eye with those exotic brown eyes. I almost couldn’t decide between looking into her eyes or her hips.

I fought myself internally. I couldn’t decide how much I should let her know just how much she was affecting me. Roza dropped the robe off of one shoulder, showing me that there was nothing covering her shoulder except her silky tanned skin, then swung around to face me again, holding the robe closed with her hands. 

Once she turned to face me again, I could see just the smallest hint of red lace poking out between her breasts at the top of the neckline and it reminded me of something I’d seen in her drawer when I was carrying her lingerie drawer up to her room. A bright red strapless lace see-through corset with garter straps at the bottom. My manhood was so hard that it ached. I was starting to get turned on just _imagining_ her wearing it when I saw it the first time and now she might actually be wearing it. 

For me.

“Well? Do you?” she asked, smirking at me. 

“Do I what?” I asked her.

“Do you want it to be a strip tease?” she asked again, looking into my eyes.

I hadn’t even realized I’d forgotten to answer her question. Even if I said ‘no’ at this point, Roza would know how much of an impact she had on me. I nodded my head slowly. 

I almost felt like my tongue was hanging out of my mouth. In my head, drool was dripping down my chin and my eyes were bugging out of my face all oddly heart-shaped while I was making uncontrolled wolf-whistles and repeatedly smashing my fist into the mattress below me.

“That’s all I needed to hear, Comrade,” Roza told me, lowering the robe off of the other shoulder.

Rose turned her back to me again and then opened one side of the robe with her arm. “Do you want me to take this robe off, Comrade?” she asked.

I was trying to maintain my last shreds of self-control and dignity, but they were only hanging on by a thread. “Yes. Please.” I wanted to just tell her outright to take _everything _off, but I couldn’t.

She opened the other side of the robe, holding it completely open and off her shoulders with her back still to me. I could still make out the sensual sway of her hips as they pushed against the robe on each revolution. My pants were feeling incredibly tight, right around the front.

Roza turned back, pulling the robe closed again as she turned, then let her leg slide out through the opening of the robe. She was wearing stockings again with a sexy red garter sticking out. “Roza,” I told her, almost moaning her name, “You’re so beautiful. You’re driving me crazy already.”

“Comrade, it’s just you and me here. How about a little quid pro quo here? Could I get you to take off your shirt?”

I didn’t hesitate. Not even for a second. I quickly sat up, grabbed my tank by the back of the neckline, and yanked it off of me, throwing it into the clothes hamper across the room, only breaking eye contact with her for a few seconds.

Rose smiled at me, saying, “That’s better already. Don’t you think so?”

I could only nod. Roza pulled the fastener out of her hair with one hand and let it softly fall around her shoulders, then rotated her hips around doing a sexy little drop so that the rounded curve of her toned ass was pointed straight at me. As she slowly eased her way back up, the robe fell to her elbows, revealing the exact lace corset I had been imagining. 

As Roza circled around again, I saw that her robe still covered her from the waist down, but the view of her full, round breasts poking through the lacy fabric was enough to make my cock jerk inside my pants and for me to let out a groan.

“Hmm, see something you like, Comrade?” Rose asked me for the second time as I was staring at her body again, still swaying her hips to the music and tugging teasingly on the robe.

“Lots,” was all I could manage to reply, utterly unable to say anything more as I watched the roll of her hips and what the swaying of her shoulders was doing to her amazing breasts.

“I think it might be your turn again,” Rose told me, as she trailed one of her hands across the fullness of her breasts and over her clearly-visible nipples.

“You want me to take my shorts off, Roza?” I asked. I could slightly hide my erection while laying down on the bed with my shorts on like this. If I took my shorts off, Rose would have no doubts that I was already completely erect.

“To start with,” she told me, making my shaft jerk again. Now, she definitely knew, which was only confirmed by her next statement. “Ah, Dimitri, it looks like someone’s already ready for more. Can you show me?”

I unfastened the button on my shorts and edged the zipper down, still watching Roza instead of what I was doing. 

Suddenly, even though it definitely wasn’t unzipped, the zipper wouldn’t move. I looked down and frowned to see that I had wedged the zipper in my boxer briefs.

“Is it stuck?” Rose asked me.

“Yes,” I told her, “Damnit.”

“Can you unstick it?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It might take some time.”

“Well ... do you think you could still get them off?” she asked.

I tried to tug my shorts down and my briefs began to slide down with them, but they definitely wouldn’t go over the fullest part of my erection. I shook my head and Rose paused the music.

“Do you want me to give you a minute?” she asked.

“I guess.”

Rose unceremoniously sat on the bed, pulling the robe closed tightly between her legs. “I guess I’ll wait, then,” she said, giving me a little smile.

I tugged hard on the zipper and it wouldn’t budge. I pulled at a different angle and it didn’t seem to go that way, either. I gave my boxers a gentle tug and the fabric seemed to give slightly, but it was still not out. I pulled harder and gasped, my eyes going wide, when I heard the fabric of my briefs ripping, and instantly stopped pulling.

“Did they just rip?” Rose asked.

I was red-faced as I nodded.

“Maybe since they’re already ripped, you should just cut them?” Rose asked, “Do you have any scissors?”

I pulled the scissors off the desk and turned away from the window for better light, gripping the scissors in one hand and placing the other carefully on the fabric of my boxer briefs, so that I wouldn’t cut my shorts or myself. After cutting them free of my body, I wedged the shorts off of my legs, throwing them in the laundry basket to deal with later, and sat back on the bed - with a hole in the front of my underwear.

Rose grinned at me and started the music back up. “My turn,” she said, letting the robe drop and tossing it to the bed behind her. She stood there - really, danced there - in a very revealing, sheer lace corset and panties with stockings.

As Roza began to dance again, my hardened member was practically lurching towards her. She ran her hands over the fullest parts of each of her breasts and then asked me, “Do you want to know a secret?”

I nodded at her. Roza grinned - _that _grin, the man-eating one again - and said, “The lace on the cups opens up.” With a flick of her wrists, Roza unfastened each of the two cups, letting her voluptuous breasts pour out. I let out a pained groan. It was all I could do to not try to scale across from my window to hers.

Before I could say or do anything else, Roza did that dance move that always made me crazy. The _slut drop_. That move where a woman drops to a squatting position as close to the ground as she can, with her legs spread wide. I stared in awe at the space between her taut thighs as she began to shimmy her way back into her full height. Without even meaning to, I let my hand trail over and push against my hardened length, desperate for any friction I could get.

Roza moaned and I noticed that her eyes were focused on my briefs. “Dimitri, do you ever touch yourself? Stroke that big, _hard _shaft of yours?”

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her like she just asked me if the sky was blue. I am a red-blooded man who enjoys orgasms as much as the next person. Of course.

“Do you ever stroke yourself when you think of me?” She asked.

I thought about raising my eyebrow again, but I knew that after what happened with Twister, I couldn’t afford to let Roza think I wasn’t attracted to her. “_Da_,” came my only answer. Yes.

“Would you like to touch yourself now?” she asked, “Maybe you could take those off for me and show me how you like to be touched?” I hesitated, unsure what she would think of seeing me crudely jerking off in front of her, until she added, “I really want to see you do it. If you show me how you please yourself, I could probably show you how _I_ do.”

With that prompting, I slid my hands into the waistband of my underwear and slid them down over my hardened length, leaving myself bare in front of the goddess in lingerie standing in the window before me, and tossed them into the trash, then laid back with my fist wrapped around my aching manhood, staring at the enchanting motion of Roza’s swaying hips and the subtle bounce of her breasts. “What about some quid pro quo now?” I asked Roza, motioning to her panties with my free hand.

“I suppose I asked for that,” Roza said as she continued swaying her hips before me, “Didn’t I?” 

My hand began slowly stroking up and down on my shaft as if it had a mind of its own. I saw Roza’s eyes glued to the motion with rapt focus. The song ended and a new song began, this one I recognized. “Slave 4 U?” I asked, “Are you offering to be my slave?”

Roza chuckled. “Maybe,” she replied.

As I laid before her with my member in hand, I felt a new boldness I didn’t have before. I knew that Roza wanted me and was safe to see how far I could let this go. “You can start by taking off those panties,” I told her.

Roza began shimmying out of her panties as she danced. Once they were fully off, she threw them at her own clothes hamper and said, “I hadn’t really figured out what I’d do once I got this far. Did you want me to take the rest off?”

I considered it for a moment as I watched her continue to dance, her exposed breasts swaying. She’d already removed the coverings from all of the parts of her body I had wanted to see most and offered them on display for me. I’d catch a glimpse of her folds - which were again glistening as though they were wet - at certain angles of her hips and it would make me lose all train of though. “_Nyet_,” I told her, shaking my head slightly, “I mean, no.”

“What would you like me to do now, then?” she asked, “At this point, I could just keep dancing for you.”

“You said something about showing me how you touch yourself.” It was a statement, but I made it sound like a question. I wanted so badly to see her in the throes of passion, even if I wanted even more to be the one to give her that pleasure myself.

“I think I should introduce you to someone first,” she said.

At her words, she flipped off the music again turned. I didn’t like the sounds of introducing me to someone in this position, with the two of us like this. I stopped my stroking and prepared to grab the pillow from behind me - the only thing I could think of to cover myself.

Rose reached into her dresser, into that drawer, and pulled out … her sex toy?

“This,” Roza told me, “is Dildo Shaggins. The only man who was able to give me an orgasm before you came along.”

I raised an eyebrow at that.

Rose laughed. “There goes that damn eyebrow again. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were intrigued. I’d also say you looked a little surprised. Did you not think I’m the kind of girl who has a sex toy or two at her disposal?”

I blushed. “I actually might have caught a glimpse of - ahem - ‘_Mr. Shaggins_’ when I was helping you move in, but I didn’t think I’d be seeing ‘_him_’ again anytime soon. And I’m grateful that introducing me to another person wasn’t what you had in mind there.”

Rose laughed and asked me, “I realize he’s not as big as you are, but I get a lot of use out of him. Did you want to see how I use him?”

I placed my hand back on my shaft and gripped tighter. “I believe this,” I tipped my hardness in her direction, giving a single but meaningful stroke, “was conditional upon that happening.”

Roza laid down, positioning herself so that I could see the apex of her thighs through the window and began running one hands over her exposed nipples as the other positioned her toy at her opening. I heard a soft buzzing as Roza twisted the handle and she placed it against her little nub.

Just as she began moving the toy in little circles along her nub, Rose’s door began to open. Adrenaline pumped through me as I heard Lissa’s voice saying, “Rose, I just wanted to ask you to turn down the tacky stripper music. I’m sorry to bot-” and then saw a very wide-eyed Lissa standing in the doorway staring at both of us. I quickly grabbed the pillow to cover my erection and Rose threw the robe across her chest, covering her breasts and bikini region, but not before Lissa got a good eyeful of both of us. “Oh god, Rose I’m so sorry! I didn’t know!”

A second later, Christian walked in to Roza’s room, saying, “Liss, what’s taking so - wow!” as he took in the sight before him.

“For God’s sake, Liss,” Rose said, “Haven’t you - _both _\- ever heard of knocking?”

Lissa looked pissed and said, “And haven’t you ever heard of locking your door? Or of not playing your music so loud that other people can’t have a conversation in the room next door?”

I laid there wide-eyed and dumbfounded - and completely naked except for a well-positioned pillow.

Christian arched an amused eyebrow and said, “Well, this is definitely a new side of the two of you.”

“OH MY GOD! Dimitri and I are both basically NAKED here, so PLEASE, just get out and give us a minute to cover up! Now!” Rose yelled.

Lissa grabbed Christian, who seemed to want to do anything other than leave - maybe grab a tub of popcorn or something - by the arm and pulled him back out of Rose’s bedroom, closing the door behind them both. I could still hear the soft buzzing in the background and I'm sure it would have been even easier to hear in the room.

“Comrade,” Roza told me, “I’m going to have to let you go so I can deal with this. I’ll wait to leave the room until you’re covered, though.”

I nodded and quickly got up and threw on some underwear and shorts. While I was getting dressed, Rose tied the robe around herself. Roza told me, “I’m sorry, Comrade. I’ve gotta go deal with this. I’ll call you tomorrow?”

“I’ll be home by one,” I told her, “I love you, Roza. Bye.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you then. Bye, Dimitri,” Rose said and hit the end call button on her phone, then blew me a kiss.

It’s going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the ending, but hopefully it was at least pretty humorous. If you look out there, I usually put a preview for each chapter out on Facebook (page on profile). I put one out there for this chapter. I’m planning to put a preview out there for next chapter - which I’m planning to finally be the Romitri sex everyone has been asking for!


	23. It's a Lock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, without further ado, here’s that - uninterrupted - sexy, sexy scene we’ve all been waiting for (with a little lead-in first)  
Please forgive anything proofreading should’ve caught.  
Re-published on January 29. If you already read it, you wouldn’t miss much in the way of plot by not re-reading, but I think it’s just ‘better’ now. The first draft just wasn’t quite right, but I think I fixed it.

I didn’t hear from Roza again the rest of the night. When I got to church, Ivan was waiting for me in our usual spot at the back of the church. We had a few minutes before church started and my family hadn’t arrived yet, so we had a few minutes to talk.

“Dude,” Ivan said, looking and sounding exactly like my gossip-hungry sisters, “I’ve been texting you all weekend! What happened with the viagra on Friday night? Did you end up cancelling your date?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I said, shrugging noncommittally.

Ivan looked at me levelly in the eye. “Try me.”

“Do you promise not to tell anyone?”

“On my grandmother’s grave,” he said, crossing his heart. This wasn't an oath he would make lightly. I was there when Ivan found out that his grandmother had passed and I knew that Ivan loved her very much.

I lowered my voice (after all, we were in church) and said, “The viagra really didn’t turn out as bad as it could’ve. Things actually started off pretty good, in fact. We were … _close _for a little while when we were alone together before we went to the restaurant. But then when we got there, our waitress was this girl that used to live with Rose and eventually, everything just went to shit.”

“One thing at a time,” said Ivan, “First, _how _close?” Then, Ivan gasped and I practically knew what he’d say next. “Dimitri, did Rose take your _cherry_?”

“That’s really none of your business, Ivan. But no, she didn’t ‘take my cherry’.”

“I’m gonna guess it’ll become hers, and soon. Here’s a couple condoms,” with that, he pulled three condoms out of his pocket and held them out to me. I stood there gaping at him. “You ought to be prepared,” he said.

I rolled my eyes, but took them and put them in my pocket before anyone saw him handing them to me at church. “I don’t even want to know why you have three condoms in your pocket at church.”

“It’s actually five,” he said with a shrug. I looked at him with my mouth hanging open again and he asked, “What? Did you really think I’d give you all the condoms I had with me? After all, Vika’s gonna be here today.”

I didn’t know whether to punch him for making plans to take advantage of my sister or throw up in my mouth thinking of Ivan and Viktoria having sex. I gave Ivan another eye roll, but he continued. “Second, though, what happened to make everything go to shit with the ex-roommate girl as your waitress?”

I hesitated, not sure how much I should tell. Ivan got a lot of information from me due to best friend privileges; sometimes more than he should have, but there was a lot about what happened on Friday night that I just wasn't sure he should know. I quickly mentally edited what happened to a format I could feel alright telling Ivan. 

“Rose was super-uncomfortable and trying to sort of stake her territory with me,” I said, “She was kissing my neck and touching my leg under the table and stuff while we were sitting there. At first, it was all sexy and I was really enjoying it, but then she started throwing back drinks the way Randall does, and she just started giggling at nothing and nearly fell out of her seat. And it just sort of seemed like the reasons she was getting all flirtatious were more about the roommate and the alcohol than about _us_. And she wasn’t her_self_.”

“Oh man! Did you talk to her about it afterwards? Or is this just _it_?”

“Who do you think I am, Ivan? You know how I feel about Rose! Of course I talked to her about it! We went out again on Saturday and she more-or-less made it up to me. Oh, and guess who Lissa’s step-sister is?”

“Who’s Lissa again?” Ivan asked, utterly clueless.

“Rose’s roommate - the one dating my Chemistry professor,” I groaned at Ivan’s question. I loved my best friend like the brother I never had, but sometimes he could be a real idiot.

“Who is her step-sister?” he asked.

I replied, “Jill.”

“Mastrano?” Ivan asked, incredulously, “Your _ex-girlfriend_? _That _Jill?”

“Yes, _that _Jill. And Rose knows her, too.”

“Holy shit!” Ivan exclaimed, loud enough that people in the pews around us turned to stare. I tried to hide my face from them, not to be seen with the guy who had just exclaimed the swear-word in church, but it seemed that they were more interested in gossip and quickly turned away whispering about someone else when a girl passed by wearing ripped cut-off shorts and flip-flops. Ivan added: “Does Rose know how old you are now?”

Church was about to start and I caught a glimpse of my sisters coming in from the side. I replied, “No. And Jill agreed not to tell her until I do. Let’s finish this conversation at school tomorrow, though.”

“Fine. Tomorrow, though, we talk,” said Ivan, sounding angry and furrowing his brow, but he let it go for now.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

The priest in church had talked on and on about truth and honesty during the service. _Honesty_. The one thing I had not given Rose. But I knew I could fix that. I needed to either tell her the truth or end things. I knew I couldn’t end things, so my choice was clear.

By the time I got home to Randall’s, it was pouring rain outside so hard that my wipers weren’t clearing the windshield when they were turned on full blast. When I got out of the car, I saw Rose standing on her porch in a pair of shorts and a sports bra, drenched and pounding on the door so hard I could see it shaking slightly, yelling. I got out of my car and ran over to Rose on the porch so that I could hold my umbrella over Rose’s head. As I got closer, I could make out the words. “Fuck! Liss!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, “Let me the fuck in! You know this was your fault! The music wasn’t even _playing _anymore when you came in!”

“Rose!” I yelled over the rain, as I got to her, “What happened?”

Rose began in a blur of words, angrily spewing out everything in one frantic breath. “Lissa and I had a big fight after what happened last night, so she left to go over to Christian’s for the night and came back this morning while I was getting in my morning run. When I went to go for my run, I left the house unlocked and didn’t take a key.” Rose gasped, then said, “It started raining, so I headed back, but when I got here the doors were locked. I swear she thinks she’s trying to prove a point about leaving doors unlocked. The bitch locked me out - to prove a fucking point!” 

It was hard to tell through the rain, but I could’ve sworn a tear streaked down Rose’s face. I knew in that moment that Rose was too broken to hear anything that might upset her more right now. I wouldn’t be able to tell her the truth about myself today. 

Definitely next week. I’d tell her next week.

“Liss and I have been friends since first grade! And now she’s willing to fucking ruin it all just so she can keep from _admitting she was wrong_?!?” Rose yelled the last part towards the house and pounded furtively on the door again.

“From what I’ve seen of the two of you, Roza, I don’t think she’d do that to you. Are you absolutely sure Lissa knows you’re out here?” I asked, continuing to raise my voice to be heard over the pounding rain.

Rose thought for a second, looked at me with this adorable pouty face, and said, “Well … not for sure. But she has to have heard the pounding! I’m practically beating a hole in the door!”

“Over this rain?” I asked her, still yelling to be heard, despite the fact that I was three feet away from her.

Rose frowned. “Maybe.”

“Did you try calling her?”

“I didn’t take my phone with me when I went out. It’s still inside the house. Along with my cash and credit cards.”

“Did you want to try to call her on my phone?” I asked, pulling it out of my pocket.

Rose took a moment to say, “I didn’t know we had such a wide age difference. Who’d have thought all along that I was dating a senior citizen, _grandpa_,” as she looked at the phone, before dialing the number and holding it to her ear. I tried to play it off with a light chuckle, but she’d almost hit too close to the mark with that comment about the age difference.

“She doesn’t always have her phone on her,” said Rose, “If she doesn’t pick up, I’m not talking to her voicemail.”

After a few more moments, Rose hung up the phone. “No answer. Now what?” she asked.

I thought quickly. All of my St. Vladimir’s school stuff was in my car, so driving her anywhere was not an option. “Why don’t you come over and we’ll get you dried off next door? It looks like Randall’s already left to go to the bar and probably won’t be home for hours, so he won’t know or care. We could try to call her again in an hour or so. Or once the rain lets up, we can try the door again.”

Rose gave me a faint half-hearted smile and said, “Sounds like a plan.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I hadn’t realized just how cold Rose was until we got inside and I saw her goosebumps and the slight bluish cast to her lips. “Why don’t you leave your shoes by the door?” I told Rose as I toed off my own shoes on the mat, “If you want to come upstairs with me, I can get you some clean, dry clothes from my room. They’ll be big, but maybe you can roll the sleeves and pant legs up. I’d be glad to check for one of my sisters’ clothes, too, but I don’t know if they’ve left any here. None of us really _like _Randall.”

“Thanks,” Rose said, kicking off her own shoes and following me up the stairs, “I think your clothes should be fine if you can’t find any of theirs. Do you think it’d be okay if I took a shower, though? I just want to be warm right now.”

I nodded and helped Rose find a towel, an old t-shirt of Viktoria’s, and some of my sweatpants, and then I pointed her to the bathroom to shower. 

“If you want to hang your clothes on the outside of the bathroom door before you get in, I can throw them in the dryer while you’re showering,” I told her.

Before she closed the door, Rose told me, “Thank you, Dimitri. It means so much to me that you’ve been there for me this afternoon. I don’t know how I could’ve handled this without you,” and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

_Not gotten walked in on last night to have gotten in the fight in the first place?_ my traitorous mind retorted at me, but I kept silent, despite myself, as she closed the bathroom door. Rose was too good to have to go through this. Her friendship with Lissa was ironclad until last night. And now, it was in doubt. Because of me. 

If I can’t be honest with her, maybe I _should _end things. Maybe she would be better off without me.

I walked to my room and sat down to read a western novel that I was in the middle of. After a minute or so, I heard the bathroom door latch and I took her clothes and put them in the dryer while Rose continued to shower. I tried not to read too much into that Rose had included her underwear in what she put on the door.

Rose took such a long shower that I suspected she must’ve stayed in the shower until she ran out of hot water. A few minutes after I heard that the water had been turned off and she was out of the shower, I heard Rose open the bathroom door again.

“Dimitri,” she called out. I walked out in the hallway and saw Rose standing there in the bathroom doorway. 

Wearing only a towel.

I stood there frozen, eyes practically popping out of my head as I watched drops of water run along her neck and into the crevice between her breasts.

She said, “The shirt you gave me is too small and the pants are so big that they won’t stay up. Could I borrow one of your shirts I could wear? Maybe like a big, warm sweatshirt or something? On me, it’s probably almost a dress.”

I dashed into my room and grabbed the first sweatshirt in my size that I could find: one that had cyrillic writing on it that my aunt had sent me for Christmas last year. It said ‘World’s Best Nephew’ in big chunky capital letters, but Rose would never know or care. I bolted back over to Rose and gave her the shirt, quickly turning away to give her some privacy. A second later, I heard the towel drop to the floor.

“You know, Dimitri, you don’t have to turn away,” she told me.

“I know,” I replied, “but I’m trying to be respectful.”

“It doesn’t matter, anyways, because I already have the shirt on.” I could practically hear the suggestive tone in her voice as Roza added, “But maybe I don’t want you to be ‘respectful’.”

I turned to Rose and was amazed at how incredibly enticing it was to see her with my shirt on, especially knowing that she was _only _wearing my shirt. Even if it did say ‘World’s Best Nephew’ on it. 

“My sweatshirt looks good on you,” I told her, swallowing as I realized I could never truly have the beauty that was in front of me.

“It is warm,” she said, “But maybe you could keep me warm without it. I think it might look even better on the floor.”

I swallowed again, feeling completely broken for what I was about to say, even though the words hadn’t come out of my mouth yet. “Roza,” I told her, “You’ve got to understand that you wouldn’t be in this situation you’re in if it weren’t for me. I caused this. If you hadn’t had me looking across the window at you, Lissa never would’ve seen anything when she walked in and the two of you never would’ve gotten in the fight. I can’t be the one who makes your life difficult.” I took a deep breath and braced myself for what I knew I had to say next. “I think it’s better if you just keep yourself covered until we can get you back in your own clothes and your own house and then … then, we shouldn’t see each other again.”

“Dimitri, what are you talking about?” Rose asked with an unreadable expression on her face, “Didn’t you say that you love me?”

I plunged ahead, each word twisting the knife in my heart just a little bit more. Even if I was doing it for her own good, I was throwing away the love of my life. I knew she needed me out of her life, even if it killed me to do it. “I do love you. And that’s exactly why I think it’s better if we don’t see each other again. I can’t put you through this anymore. I would rather have you be happy without me than miserable because of me.”

“Don’t I get a say in any of this?” 

“You don’t _want _to be happy, Rose?”

“Dimitri, _you _make me happy. I want _you_. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I’m in love with you. Like I have never felt for anyone else before in my whole life. I could never be happy without you. Of _course_, I’m not thrilled about being in a fight with my best friend, but we’ll work it out. We always have when we fought before. And if not, as long as I’m with you, _I. Don’t. Care_. If I have to choose between Lissa and you, I choose you, Dimitri. Every time.”

Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I stood there speechless. She told me that she _loved _me; the words I had been waiting to hear since I revealed my feelings for her - if not from the time I started to feel that way about her. And she was willing to choose me over her _best _friend - since childhood.

Without even meaning to, I moved closer to her. I couldn’t help it. I was drawn to Rose like a magnet. I didn’t want to fight it for a moment.

“I love you, Dimitri,” Rose told me, “You’re all I ever want. I need you.”

I closed the little space between us and pulled her body up against mine, letting our lips crash together. This was none of the usual casually-sweet softness of our other kisses; this kiss was a smouldering and urgent testament to the feelings between us, pouring out all of the emotions that had been building for the past several weeks. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get close enough to her. Our mouths clashed almost violently as I clutched her to me, occasionally pitting teeth against lip or tongue. I wanted her, needed her, closer than anyone had ever been.

Roza began to unfasten the buttons on my dress shirt. Up until that moment, I hadn’t even realized I was still wearing my dress clothes that I had worn to church. 

Church. Where I heard the priest talk about honesty. _Honesty_.

I backed away and put a finger to her lips. “Roza, there’s something I need to tell you. Now, before we go any further.”

Rose pulled my hand away from her lips. “Dimitri, it doesn’t matter. No matter what you want to tell me, there’s nothing you could say that would change the way I feel about you. Don’t you want to make love to me?”

I knew in my head that was where this was all heading this afternoon, but until Roza had said it, I didn’t fully comprehend it. _I was about to make love to her_. Roza, the woman of my dreams; the love of my life. I’d never wanted anything so much in my entire life.

Before I could say more, we were kissing again. I didn’t _move _to kiss her again and she didn’t move to kiss me, but somehow we were kissing. Roza had the first several buttons on my shirt undone in practically record time, too. I wanted to make love to her more than I could imagine. As Roza went to untuck the tail of my shirt, I felt electricity coursing through my veins when she let a hand gently graze the full length of my quickly forming erection. 

I groaned as I realized how badly my body wanted to make love to Roza right now. It was so much more than just my body that wanted her, though. It was my soul. I wanted to join our souls together and I never wanted to part from her again. 

Roza herself had said that nothing would change the way she felt about me. I could tell her the truth about my age after she made up with Lissa and it would be fine. There was no reason I had to tell her now.

I lifted Roza up and carried her to my bed, closing the door behind me, dragging the curtains closed and pulling my shirt off as I laid beside her on the bed. I let the fingers of one hand run through her still-dripping hair, the other hovering near the hem of the sweatshirt as I leaned in to continue kissing her. Roza’s lips were like heaven - or a drug - and I couldn’t get enough. I tugged on the sweatshirt, and before I knew it, we had to break the kiss so that I could pull it off of her.

“You got rid of that sweatshirt fast,” Roza said, “I thought you liked it on me.”

I replied, “I do like it. I love it. I just thought it might look better on the floor.”

I wanted to savor the moment and really look at her. I didn’t want the moment to pass me by: the first time she had been completely naked in front of me - well, the first time she had been when we were in the same room and she knew that I could see her. I could reach out and touch her, every inch. I could see her up close. And she was mine.

Within seconds, my fingers were meeting her already drenched core as Rose began to unfasten my pants. The circling of my fingers on her little pleasure button were met with the sexiest moans I had ever heard. 

The rest of my clothes came off quickly and hardly without my notice as I enjoyed touching, kissing, and seeing the beauty before me. 

Once all my clothes were off, she began stroking my hardened length almost teasingly slow. Roza asked, “Do you want me, Dimitri? Do you want to be with me?”

“You know I do,” I told her, as I cupped her firm round breast in one hand, my fingers circling both her nipple and her clit at the same time. I kissed along her neck, her wet hair tickling my nose gently. I caused her to moan even louder as I gently nibbled on her earlobe.

Rose’s hands stroked and tugged at my rigid cock nearly expertly. I knew she knew I was getting to the point of no return, my tip leaking out and achingly ready for release. I found myself grateful that I had taken the time to masturbate twice that morning, certain that I couldn’t have held out this long without just exploding all over her if I hadn’t gotten a little of the excitement out of my system earlier. It helped my concentration to focus on thinking about how to pleasure _her_ instead of how it felt for her to touch me, but she was still just that good.

Suddenly, Rose pulled away, said ‘Shit!’, made a loud sigh that didn’t sound at all pleased, and sat up. 

“What’s wrong, Roza?” I asked.

“Dimitri, we can’t. I don’t have anything.”

I sat up beside her and furrowed my brow, thoroughly confused. “Don’t have any what?”

“Protection,” she said, “I’m not on the pill or anything.”

I closed my eyes and thought for a moment. Of course! “I could kiss Ivan right about now!” I said as I opened my eyes and searched for my pants.

“Kiss _Ivan_?” Rose asked, “What are you talking about?”

I grabbed my pants off of the floor and pulled the condoms out of the pocket and said, handing her the three condoms, “Ivan gave me these while we were sitting in church this morning, before the service. At the time, I was ready to kill him for it. If my mother and sisters hadn’t been running late, they might’ve seen him handing them to me.”

Roza smiled a brilliant, wide grin. “Dimitri! _I_ could kiss Ivan right now! Do you know what this means?”

I smiled back at Roza. “It means that this afternoon I get to make love to the beautiful woman I am in love with.”

As my fingers returned to Roza’s core and my lips returned to hers, I heard her ripping open the packaging on one of the three condoms. A moment later, I could feel her rolling it down my hardened manhood.

_Is this really happening?_ I thought to myself.

“Are you ready for this?” Roza asked me, pulling my hand away from her little nub.

“Yes,” I told her, looking her in the eyes.

“Then lay back,” Rose told me, pushing against my shoulder. I laid with my back on the bed, my head on the pillow. Roza positioned herself with her legs straddling my hips, her lovely breasts right in my face. I couldn’t help myself to sit up slightly and run my fingers across her orbs, letting my mouth lick and suck at one peak. Roza moaned when my tongue came in contact with her nipple, then grasped my wrapped manhood in her hand and positioned it at her entrance.

“Once this happens,” Rose said, “there’s no going back, Dimitri.”

“I don’t want to.”

I felt her plunging my tip into her warmth. It was the most amazing tightness and heat I had ever felt. The only thing that kept me from coming on the spot was that she hadn’t inserted me fully and that I couldn’t feel her wetness because I was wearing the condom. I really wanted to see her face for this, but I couldn’t help but let my eyes slide closed from the pleasure. She was even tighter than I had thought she was and oh-so-slippery. 

I opened my eyes again. Roza just sat there for a moment with only my tip inside her, breathing deeply with her eyes closed. I had no idea what she was thinking, but I really wanted to know. Was this painful for her? Did it feel good? Was I even going to fit?

All I wanted to do was thrust up inside her and feel myself entering her fully. I was fighting everything inside me to wrest control from her. I watched her entrance, the place where we were joined, and saw the most beautiful sight as, in one motion, she sunk all the way down and sheathed me fully inside her, then sat still on top of me. She kept her eyes closed and remained still for nearly a full minute. Then, she began to gently rock on top of me and moaned with pleasure, her tight heat clutching me tightly. It felt incredible, she looked incredible, she _sounded _incredible.

_Maybe too incredible. AGAIN?!?_

“Roza, I want to give you everything I have, but I’m not going to be able to last very long,” I told her honestly. Especially now, while we were joined like this, I didn’t want to ruin the moment by letting her think that I didn’t want her or that I wanted to give her any less than one hundred percent. This was all about her and the feelings we had for each other.

To my surprise, she said, “That makes two of us, Comrade,”as she began to rotate her hips as she rocked. I could feel her tightness and warmth over every millimeter of my shaft, my tip ramming up against her on each rock. Her moans got louder with each rocking motion. Occasionally, she would throw in a rapid thrust - almost a pop - of her quite powerful hips, burying me deeper still inside her. The motion was like nothing I could replicate on my own with my hand. The woman was a goddess and I was well on my way to coming from simply being inside her.

I continued to tease her breasts with my mouth and hand, clutching her hip down to my body. Everything about this moment felt better than any moment before it and I wanted whatever closeness I could get from this beautiful woman. I closed my eyes for focus, trying desperately to prolong the start of my orgasm for as long as I could.

Suddenly, Roza let out a keening whimper and the longest, loudest moan yet. “Dimitri!!! I’m coming!”

As she said it, I felt her sheath clenching around me, almost like it was milking me. At that moment, I couldn’t stop the seed from spilling out of me if I tried, and I didn’t want to. As my orgasm continued on, Roza was still rocking above me. 

I looked in her beautiful, exotic brown eyes and saw the feelings I felt mirrored there in her own. I realized that I’d never felt a connection like this with another human being for as long as I lived. And I don’t think I ever would again. 

This was it. _She _was it. There truly _was _no going back. I would never love anyone else like I would love Roza and I would love her forever.

“I love you,” I told her, “So much.”

“And I love you, too, Dimitri.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you look out there, I put a preview for this chapter on Facebook (page on profile) a few days before the chapter went live (the first time). I do that almost every chapter.  
I’m planning about six or so more chapters after this, so we’re closing in on the final few here. If you want a nice happy ending to the story, you can either wait for chapter 28(-ish?) or stop about half-way through the next chapter. I'll try to let you know the point of no return so you can choose whether or not to keep going. The next couple of chapters will turn a bit angsty (you knew it had to happen eventually), so let me know your thoughts on whether I should hold off and publish them all together with the happy ending or put them out as I finish them.


	24. Cold Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy, though this storyline is all my own  
There is some extremely mature sexual content ahead  
If you are intending to hold off on any angsty stuff until the happy ending is published, don’t read the last paragraph (it will be clearly marked)  
In case you didn’t notice, I went back and re-wrote chapter 23 a bit to fix some problems I didn’t like with the way it turned out. If you hadn’t originally read it before this chapter went up, feel free to take a look. You’ll probably be glad you did.

**Rose POV:**

No matter how angry I was with Lissa, it was hard to ignore Dimitri when I saw him. He had been so handsome in his dress shirt and pleated pants, his long hair tied back so flawlessly, that it almost took my breath away. I couldn’t compare, looking like a drowned rat, completely sopping wet with no makeup, wearing my grimy and worn workout clothes, and flustered from my angry rants at our closed door.

When Dimitri let me in his house, I was freezing, but I tried to hide my shivers. I felt almost rude asking to shower the first time I was in his house, but I was just too cold and needed to get warm.

I shouldn’t have second-guessed it because Dimitri was reliable and kind as ever, finding me a change of clothes and a towel, even offering to dry my wet clothes. He was so thoughtful and caring, not giving a second thought to himself. He even spent a few moments going through a very private-looking drawer of his sister’s old underclothing that probably emotionally scarred him for life.

I gave half a thought that a guy wouldn’t know how to care for my expensive French lace panties properly in the dryer, but they were just too wet to put back on and I didn’t want to leave them sitting around where Dimitri’s father would see them. Besides, it would do us both some good for me to tease him a little with them. Maybe I could move us a little closer to being naked together in the same room.

When I got in the bathroom, I rummaged around for a minute, smelling Dimitri’s soap and after-shave and finding the right way to turn the knobs to get the temperature right. His soap was clean and manly and his after-shave had a wonderfully spicy smell to it, reminding me of the way his chest and neck had smelled when we had been kissing. The shower was hot and the pressure was good, so I lingered under the warm water, relishing in it, just glad to be warm again. 

When I got out, I went to Dimitri’s huge fleece sweatpants first. They felt so soft and I thought to myself how nice it would be to run my hands along the outside of them while he was wearing them. It might sound silly, and certainly could’ve been kind of gross if they weren’t clean, but I smelled them, hoping that they would smell like him, too. To a certain extent, they did, but not like the soap had. 

I pulled them on, and they immediately fell back down again, quickly pooling at my knees. I laughed to myself, saying, “Well, that’s certainly one way to get my pants off,” and then moved on to the t-shirt he’d given me. 

The tag on the shirt said Medium, but it didn’t look like a size medium. The thin white t-shirt was a Maroon 5 concert shirt with a tall, skinny ‘M’ stretched across the whole front of the shirt, and it barely went over my head. Considering how wet and dripping my hair and body were, the shirt was pretty transparent. Once I had it over my breasts, it seemed kind of pointless, considering it clung to my curves so well that it looked like I had no shirt on at all - and I still had nothing to cover my bottom half. 

I definitely didn’t mind him seeing me that way, but especially after Friday, I thought I’d rather it be by his choice for him to see me naked and not an unexpected surprise due to a wardrobe malfunction. I would keep throwing him hints, but wait until he was ready for us to have sex together.

I yanked it back off, covered with the towel, and padded out into the hallway to see if Dimitri could give me something else. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I was only wearing a towel until I saw his heated gaze on me. I could practically feel his eyes caressing my skin, and boy, did I enjoy it. At that moment, I thought maybe I should have come out in the skin-tight see-through t-shirt with no pants on, after all.

When Dimitri returned with his sweatshirt, he had pulled his hair loose from its tie, almost a subconscious act out of nervousness. I was only too overjoyed that the shirt was warm and as soft as those sweatpants. Since it had Cyrillic writing on it and he’d said that he had been out of Russia for years, I had guessed that it probably wasn’t a shirt he wore too often. As soon as he turned around, I dropped the towel and plunged into the sweatshirt, but couldn’t resist reminding him that the choice to look at me or look away was his alone. As I had suspected, the shirt came down to my knees and I had to bunch the sleeves up around my elbows.

He had wanted to be ‘respectful’, he said. He was always trying to be the gentleman. I appreciated the thought, but if he has already seen me naked from the waist down and had his hands on my most intimate parts, I’m not sure respect is really necessary, if that’s the only thing that kept him from looking. After all, I wanted him to look.

When Dimitri told me his shirt looked good on me, I don’t think he was even aware of how thick his accent was. It took me a moment to even comprehend what he was saying from how thick it was, and I saw him take a gigantic gulp. Suddenly, I felt my skin heat and thought I’d be warmer without the shirt. Again, I couldn’t resist the little flirtation to try to get him to want me naked.

When Dimitri said that we shouldn’t see each other again, at first I thought he was joking. But his face was so … broken. He was not joking. I couldn’t begin to fathom what would make him think we should be apart like that.

Dimitri’s selfless answer startled me. He was so worried that his presence in my life had brought me pain and separated me from my best friend that he didn’t realize what else he had brought. He thought he was taking me away from the people I loved, but I knew that he had it all wrong. 

Then it clicked that he didn’t know how much he meant to me. I hadn’t found the time to tell him, but if there was ever a time, it was now. I spent so much of my life fighting for the things I wanted and I wasn’t about to stop fighting now. I wouldn’t give him up without a fight. I love him with all of my heart and nothing could change that fact.

There was no one I wanted more than him. In the short time we’d known each other, it didn’t entirely make sense, but there was no one I loved more than him. He was _it _for me, end of story.

As he moved closer to me, I told him, “I love you, Dimitri. You’re all I ever want. I need you.” 

And then there was that kiss. We were so frenzied and passionate, like there just shouldn’t be any space between us, anywhere. Gasping and panting, our lips devoured each other, tasting and savoring each inch of each others’ mouths. My body molded to his as Dimitri’s strong arms clutched me tighter to his body. I felt like if he let me go, I would either float away or melt into the floorboards, maybe both.

In that moment, all I wanted was to finally be one with him. Now, if ever, after I had told him how much I was in love with him, was the time. I began to tug on the buttons of his sexy dress shirt.

I couldn’t understand why he would pull away, but he did, and put a finger to my mouth. “Roza,” he said, “there’s something I need to tell you. Now, before we go any further.”

I knew it was just another ridiculous argument, because of his not knowing how I felt. _Nothing _could change the way I felt about him. There was no one for me but him, and I needed to tell him that. The time to wait was done.

Seconds later, we were kissing again, my mouth surrounding his surrounding mine. I couldn’t get his dress shirt off of him fast enough. When my hand brushed against his hardness while untucking the hem, Dimitri let out an excited gasp and a groan. I couldn’t believe how quickly he had gotten so worked up, although truthfully, I was pretty sure I was as excited as he was. 

When I’d finished untucking it and opened the last button, he lifted me into his arms and carried me to his bed. Dimitri had, quite possibly, the nicest body I’d ever seen and I enjoyed just seeing his bare chest and all of the muscles live and in person again. The rest of our clothes - especially that sweatshirt I was wearing - came off quickly, with more kissing and touching following the whole way. In only that one car ride last night, Dimitri had perfected the art of touching a woman at least as well as I could touch myself - in a way that Jesse had never even tried - and had me nearly crying out for more.

Once Dimitri was fully undressed, I took almost too much pleasure in torturing his gorgeous body, watching him nearly come undone under my hands. I wanted him to feel the need to beg for release, to beg to be inside of me. 

Now; it was time now. All I’d been waiting for and fantasizing about with this Russian god was about to happen. All I had to do was get one of those condoms I’d been saving up with his name on them from my purse ...

“Shit!” I said, sitting up. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I didn’t have access to any of my condoms right now. I banged my head against my hands, cursing my luck with getting locked out by Lissa right now.

When Dimitri sat up beside me and then reached for his pants, I wasn’t sure what he was doing but I almost thought it might be time to call it quits and get dressed again. It would’ve been just like the way the rest of the day was going to have to stop when we got this worked up. But then he pulled the condoms out of his pocket and I could have jumped for joy. I separated one of the condoms from the other two and tossed the others down on the nightstand. I couldn’t rip the package open and roll it onto him fast enough. It was time to give Dimitri the best first time possible.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked him. I wanted to know more than just if his body was ready. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that his body was, but I needed to know that his heart was. 

As I looked in his deep brown eyes and he told me ‘yes’, I had all the answer I needed. I got Dimitri onto his back and positioned myself above him. I had only a moment’s hesitation, and then Dimitri’s mouth was circling my nipples. Aside from pleasuring my core, it was one of the most intense things he had done to my body, and in all of the times we’d been alone together before now, he’d never put his mouth on my breasts. He was driving me crazy and all I wanted - all I needed - was to finally become one with him. I needed to show him as much pleasure as he was showing me. 

But I needed to be sure he was sure.

“Once this happens, there’s no going back, Dimitri,” I told him, ready with him positioned at my waiting entrance.

Again, his eyes met mine and I knew that there was no doubt - only love. I almost gasped at the amazing look in his eyes. In the time I’d known him, Dimitri had been so reserved, so good at hiding what he was feeling and speaking so few words. But this look … it conveyed so much. It was a look I’d never seen from anyone else. I saw longing, excitement, passion, tenderness, hope, desire, and just pure unadulterated love. I had never loved him more than that moment.

As I pushed his tip up into me, the look of love on Dimitri’s face before we were joined was wonderful, but the look of pure bliss that replaced it was astonishing. I only saw it for a second because I couldn’t believe how full I already felt, with only his tip there. The stretch was incredible. It wasn’t painful, but it definitely took some getting used to. I took a deep breath, feeling myself stretch around him, then another and another. After Dildo Shaggins - which was much larger than Jesse ever was - I didn’t think I’d have any trouble fitting Dimitri inside me, but now I was beginning to have doubts.

After a couple more deep breaths, I finally decided I should just go for it and put my full body weight into sitting down onto his impressively-sized erection. I thrust down in one smooth movement, letting him enter me fully.

_Wow, this was snug!!!_ I’d never felt so full in my whole life. The stretch … there are no words for how much I was stretched. I was thankful for all of the yoga flexibility I’d gone through at the gym, because I needed to learn to stretch now in a whole new way. 

And more than that, Dimitri’s tip was right on my g-spot, and pushing hard against it. There wasn’t exactly room for him to wiggle around in there, but he was already in exactly the right place. It felt intense, but so, so good.

Once I thought I could handle it, I gave an experimental little rock, tilting my hips just a little. When I moved backwards again and Dimitri’s head brushed and then pushed against my g-spot, I couldn’t help letting out a heady moan. I rocked again. And again. 

This! This is what I’ve been missing up until now. It was almost like his body was made for mine.

I kept rocking, bringing me close to a quick and messy finish already, when Dimitri told me he wasn’t going to be able to last long. If I ever thought that was going to be a problem, that idea was expelled the minute I rocked forward. I began tilting my hips a little on each rock, maximizing the amount that his head was positioned right where I wanted it. If I really pushed into him, it stretched me even more, but it felt _so _good!

I couldn’t believe how good Dimitri was making my body feel. I couldn’t believe how deep he was inside me. I couldn’t believe how close we were to each other. But it was so much more than just our bodies. It was like we were connecting on a deeper, almost spiritual level. I couldn’t believe how much I loved him.

My every thought was Dimitri. Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri.

His hands and mouth were so loving and sweet. Touching my breasts, kissing my neck, breasts, and lips. His body was so perfect. He was driving me to come faster than I ever had before. And all of this came in the perfect package of the kind, thoughtful, generous, strong, loving man that was beneath me, giving himself to me. And I was giving myself to him. There was never a more perfect moment.

As my hips sped up even faster, my body began hurtling over the cliff toward climax. I started to come, nearly uncontrollably, calling out his name. An instant later, I could actually feel the pressure of him coming inside me, despite the condom. 

I looked into his wonderful brown eyes and I knew. This is it. Forever. This is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I will never love anyone else like him.

Dimitri told me, “I love you. So much.”

“And I love you, too, Dimitri.” _More than you’ll ever know._

As we both came down from our peaks, loudly gasping deep breaths, I smiled at him and leaned in to gently kiss his lips. I pulled up off of his monstrous cock, still half-hard, and slid to the side, rotating so that I was still facing him and laying on my side on the bed next to him.

“No regrets?” I asked him, hopeful.

“None,” he told me, “You?”

“That I didn’t meet you sooner,” I answered, surprising myself with the truth of that statement, “That you weren’t my first.” I giggled and added, “Though, admittedly, that probably would’ve been pretty painful for a first time for me.”

“Mmm,” he said, humming his agreement, “I should probably get rid of this now,” he said, looking down at the condom. I nodded and he slid it off, tying off the end and wrapping it in a tissue, before dropping it in the trash basket.

“What happens now?” I asked him.

Dimitri replied, “Well, that depends.”

“On what?”

“Whether we want to use the other two now.” Dimitri’s smile was as wide as a Cheshire cat as he flipped me over, he positioned himself above me on my back, and I giggled with glee. 

Considering there was no viagra in his system today, I felt like his recovery time was pretty fast - as fast as a teenager - but I guess that is what happens when it’s your first time and you’re really in love. Plus, Dimitri is a few years younger than me.

Dimitri began kissing his way down my neck and chest, crawling backwards. When he got to my breasts, he stopped and took the time to thoroughly kiss and lick each of them, earning another set of purred moans from me. His mouth was so warm and soft, and what Dimitri could do with his mouth was nothing short of incredible. As he continued backing down and kissing along my ribs and then my stomach, his destination was more than clear and my excitement began to build, for a number of reasons. 

“Umm … Dimitri?” I asked him, tapping on his shoulder. He looked up at me with a devilish grin as he ran his tongue along my belly button. “I think I know where you’re heading right now. I hadn’t outright told you so, but no one has ever performed oral on me.” I knew it was something thousands of people did every day, but I was afraid. What if he wasn’t any good? What if he hurt me with his teeth or sucked too hard? Worse yet, what if he didn’t like it? What if I tasted funny?

“Well,” said Dimitri, as he licked and kissed his way down to my inner thigh, “then I guess this makes me a first for something for you. It’s something I’ve really wanted to do since I tasted you on my fingers in the restaurant. Just tell me if I do something wrong. Or right.”

As soon as the last word was out of his mouth, Dimitri began gently licking at my very wet center. From this point forward, I could only moan and whimper. I couldn’t form words as he explored and his tongue ventured very pleasantly into never-before-licked places. 

I clutched at his hair as he worked his mouth tirelessly between my thighs, bringing me closer to my peak in this short amount of time than I could have been by my own hand alone. Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, Dimitri pulled away for a second. I breathed deeply.

“Am I on the right track?” he asked, looking at me with his face shamelessly sexy, wet with my juices. I could only laugh at that; how could he even think he was _not _on the right track? “Is this,” his finger gently prodded my clit, earning another deep moan and a slight surprised jump from me, “the right place?”

“Ummph … Mmhmm … Yessss,” I told him, so blissed out I was having trouble getting the assent out. When Dimitri leaned back in and began focusing his tongue solely on my clit, my moans turned to yells. He moved his tongue almost frantically, as if something tragic would happen if he were to slow down. 

His finger began to slide gently inside me, pumping in and out, as he licked. When he curved his finger upward and began stroking my g-spot, I gave a wordless scream and came uncontrollably. Never had I experienced such an intense climax in my entire life. As I continued to come, Dimitri licked and sucked gently, letting me come back down to earth slowly.

Once I was through, he kissed his way back up the way he had come, stopping at my belly button and each of my breasts as he had before. Finally, when he was back at my face-level, he turned his head and began kissing my neck, running his rough hands gently over both of my nipples, then asked, whispering in my ear, “Did I do alright?”

Again, I could only laugh. “Really?” I asked him, “Do you really have to ask that?”

“I don’t know. Screaming can mean a lot of things. Not all of them good.” I looked at him and his eyes were making a puppy-dog face all, but I saw a glimmer of mischief underneath it all.

“Yes!” I told him, practically smacking at his gorgeous, muscular bare shoulder, “Yes, Dimitri! You rocked my world - twice! Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Dimitri pulled back and looked at me with a grin. “Yes. Are you ready for a third time?”

I smiled at him, as I spread my thighs to accommodate his body between them. “I could be. Someone’s awfully cocky today,” I told him, as he reached over to grab another condom.

“Well,” he replied, sitting back slightly to put it on, “it must be something about the beautiful woman lying beneath me who is naked that I’ve been giving climaxes to repeatedly this afternoon.”

Dimitri lined himself up at my entrance and slid smoothly inside. Ah, heaven.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

**Dimitri POV:**

As I slid backwards and pulled off the condom, I couldn’t help but say it again. I knew I’d already said it several times today, but I just couldn’t express it strongly enough. “I love you so much, Roza.”

I leaned down, cupped her cheek with my hand and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose, then a light peck on her lips. “I love you, Roza. I will always love you, for the rest of my life.” 

Rose smiled at me and pulled me close, planting a sizzling deep kiss on my lips. “I love you too, Dimitri.”

I pulled the blanket over both of us. I was tempted to see if she wanted to go for a third round, but I had the feeling that she already might be sore tomorrow from what happened this afternoon, and I was sure we’d both want more later on. I would have to make a mental note to buy some condoms of my own.

As I was beginning to wonder what should happen next, almost on cue, Rose’s stomach growled. “I’m sorry,” I told her, “I didn’t even think about food. I don’t have a lot to offer here. Randall’s pretty low-maintenance when it comes to that sort of thing. You must be hungry, though.”

Rose laughed. “Starving, actually. But all of my money’s next door.”

“I think I have enough to buy us lunch if you want to grab some fast food. I’ll go get your clothes from the dryer.” I handed her my phone, adding, “Did you want to try to call Lissa again while I get them?”

Rose smiled and said, “Sure.”

By the time I got back with Rose’s clothes, I could hear her talking with Lissa.

“No,” she said into the phone, “It actually all worked out.” Rose looked up and smiled at me.

A second or so later, she said, “Actually, something _happened_. I’ll tell you about it later. Dimitri and I were just going to get a late lunch.”

Rose laughed at a comment and said, “No, I won’t tell him not to take me for tacos!”

A few more seconds lapsed. “Okay, that sounds like a great idea, Liss,” she said, “My phone’s on my nightstand and the keys are on the hook by the door. See you soon.”

Rose hung up the phone and said to me, “Lissa is going to come over in a few minutes to bring my phone, wallet, and keys.”

“In that case,” I told her, handing over her clothes, “as much as I love having you naked, you had better get dressed. Unless you want Lissa to walk in on us again like last night.”

I leaned back on the bed and watched her putting on her lacy panties with my hands behind my head. “That goes for both of us, I think,” she told me, nodding, with a light laugh, to my re-emerging erection that was beginning to stand straight up, “But now that I will have my own money again, I’ll gladly pay for lunch. As long as you drive.”

I quickly grabbed a pair of shorts out of the drawer as I admired Rose getting dressed in front of me. When the last of her body was covered, I asked her, “Why was I not supposed to take you for tacos?”

“I like them a little _different _than some people. Lissa thinks it’s strange and scares guys off.”

“How different could it be?” I asked.

Rose looked like she wasn’t entirely sure if she should tell me, but finally said, “I like to put ketchup on them.”

I laughed. “If I can put mackerel on a pizza, you can put ketchup on a taco anytime you want. Could you hand me my wallet out of the pants beside you? Or if you want, you could just grab my license out of it.”

Rose picked up the pants and pulled my wallet out of the pocket and began rifling through the various cards in little plastic pockets to find my license.

I swallowed, realizing that now that Rose and Lissa had made up, it was time to let her know the truth. "Rose, there's something I need to tell you," I said, but Rose wasn't looking at me or paying attention as she gave me a matter-of-fact 'Uhuh' and continued searching through my wallet.

"Rose, I might be a little bit y-"

**\---**

**Here it is, folks. Turn away now and skip down to the Author’s Notes if you don’t want to see the angsty part yet.**

**\---**

“Dimitri,” Rose said, with a puzzled and angry look on her face, holding my wallet up, cards fanned out on top of it, “why does your St. Vladimir’s school ID card say it’s for this year?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I concede to the vote. Other than beta-readers and Facebook, I’ll be going radio silent for a little while. You won’t see another chapter published until I’ve written the happy ending, so it might be up to a month.   
Please be aware that I am planning for a loving, wonderful, sweet, happily-ever-after ending to this story. Things will get bad (maybe very, very bad), but unless something major happens to me (train wreck, exposure to a flesh-eating virus that kills on contact, my entire city is drowned in Lake Michigan, nuclear weapons destroy the U.S., the government takes away my internet access for the protection of the human race, you get the idea), I will not leave them that way.  
For those of you that voted to skip the angst for now, please know that when I get there, you’ll want to read the line at the bottom of this chapter, along with the chapters afterwards. If my outline goes as planned, you can expect the happy ending part around chapter 27 or 28 and an epilogue after that.  
Sorry if this chapter was a little delayed. In addition to the 23 rewrite, I am also just getting over pneumonia here. I’m still tired and short of breath, but not like I was, and the doctor says I’m not contagious anymore, so that’s a good thing. Hopefully, life will return to normal for me by Monday.  
If you look out there, I probably put a preview for this chapter on Facebook (page on profile). Special thanks to RozamarieH, who is giving a go at beta-reading for this chapter.


	25. Blown Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you know by now, Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy
> 
> As you’ve probably seen from my last chapter’s author’s notes, by the time this is published, I was supposed to have already written the happy ever after. In what I’ve written today, I’m through writing the end of chapter 29 right now and chapter 30 SHOULD be our happy ending. Be prepared for some angst, but unless I get hit by a bus or get hospitalized with coronavirus (which is probably more of a possible reality than I would like) or something, it will all be over soon. Unless I get a whole bunch of comments/reviews on each chapter all up front, I’m probably going to give you guys a day or two between chapters so you have time to read and review before I post the next one.

_"Dimitri,” Rose said, with a puzzled and angry look on her face, holding my wallet up, cards fanned out on top of it, “why does your St. Vladimir’s school ID card say it’s for this year?”_

My mouth hung open. I had no idea how to respond to this. It had caught me completely off guard. Why didn’t I think of the fact that Rose would see my card before asking her to look through my wallet? 

“Dimitri, are you a _student_? A _high school_ student?!?” The outrage on Rose’s face was clear. Nothing could mar her beautiful face, but her nostrils flared and her face seemed to redden with anger. The fire in her eyes told me all that I needed to know about how she was feeling right now. I didn’t know how to respond.

“I was going to tell yo-” I began.

Rose cut in, “Are you even of age? Are you a _minor_?” Her voice rose as her anger became greater.

“I -” I began again, but she continued to cut me off.

“Oh my god, you’re a _child _\- aren’t you? And what does that make me? I’m a fucking _child molester_!” Rose closed her eyes in disgust, pinching the bridge of her nose.

I needed a way to salvage this. I needed a way to break through to her. I couldn’t lose her. Not now. Rose was the love of my life and we’d only just found each other. “You’re not -” I tried again. 

She looked up at me. “Don’t try to sugarcoat this, Dimitri! Why the hell did you need to lie to me if it wasn’t true?”

“Because I -”

“Christian! Ugh! He _knew_, didn’t he?” She fumed, “And Adrian, too! Or Jill! _Oh. My. FUCKING. God!_ Jill! _YOU _\- you’re that ‘really, really tall, muscular guy with a cool accent at school’ she was going out with last year - the one she just couldn’t stop talking about for a couple of weeks before she met her boyfriend! That’s why you recognized _her name_!”

“They kept it a sec-” I began, not entirely sure what I was going to say or where I was going with that statement. I was floundering. But inevitably, it didn’t matter where I was going, because she interrupted again.

“_This_ is why you visit your dad every weekend! Not out of some duty-bound familial obligation, or because you need him to pay for _college_, but because it’s _court-mandated until you turn eighteen_!”

“It was only -” I started again. I had to at least try to let her know that I’m eighteen. I just visit because I need him to pay for my tuition at St. Vladimir’s and college. But she kept keeping me from explaining.

Rose’s eyes filled with startled horror as she blurted out, “And I just took your _virginity_! Your - your - your ... _innocence_!!! From a _child_! And that’s why you recovered so quickly - like a teenager - after you blew your load the first time, too! Because you _are _a teenager! Ugh, I feel so dirty! I need to go scrub away all the _filth _I feel right now!” Rose clenched her shoulders as if she had chills running up and down her spine, making a face as though she smelled a really bad smell or stepped in something dirty.

“Roza, wait, I can explain.” I kept trying, but she tossed my sweatshirt at me and was already headed for the door. I followed her down the stairs as she took them two at a time, in a hurry to leave.

“Oh, you’re good, high school boy! Don’t you ‘Roza’ me! Was this all just a game to you? To try to see if you can get an _experienced_, adult woman to take your virginity? Did you make a bet with your pervert friend Ivan? Is that what the bet with your arms was all about? That you didn’t get me to fuck you yet!?! Is that what happened when you didn’t have sex with me after Twister? Because you _lost your nerve_ about losing your cherry to an adult woman you barely knew, that you didn’t give a shit about?” She continued in a huff as she tried to put on her shoes while not taking her eyes off of me. I definitely got the feeling the reason she kept looking was because she didn’t trust me and not because she _wanted _to see me.

This was going badly. I don’t know if I could ask for worse. She was literally misconstruing _everything _that happened, in the worst possible way.

Rose gasped in shock as she added, “Oh my god, was that what the viagra was for? To try to get me to ‘fulfill your _needs’_?” Rose scoffed and then said, “I thought you were different! But I was wrong; you’re just like Jesse! I am almost willing to bet that the reason you and Jill broke up is because she wouldn’t _put out_ for you, too!”

I wanted to respond, but her statement had caught me off guard. I always thought I had more respect for women than that, but now she was lumping me in with the likes of Jesse Zeklos. 

Rose opened the door to see Lissa standing there, fist extended as though she was just about to knock.

“Rose!” Lissa said, “I wasn’t expecting you to be down here so fast.”

“Liss, I was just leaving,” Rose said, “I need to go home and get away from perverted children.”

“Wha -” Lissa sputtered as Rose pushed past her and out onto the porch, trying to slam the door behind her, even though I was holding it.

“Rose, wait!” I said.

Rose spun to face me “_WHAT_, Dimitri?” Rose asked, piercing me with her stare, “Do you have an _explanation _for this? A reason why you would have a current high school ID card, and you’re _not _a high schooler?”

I frowned slightly. “Well, no, bu -”

Rose pulled the door from out of my grasp and said, “Then goodbye, Dimitri. I hope I never see you again.”

She slammed the door in my face. I took a deep breath as I felt like the room was spinning. Still reeling, I found myself unable to stand any longer and I sat at the foot of the stairs. It wasn’t like me to cry, but I felt tears welling in my eyes. The first tear trickled down my cheek. Then another. Then another. 

My world was crashing down around me and I didn’t know what to do. I had no one to blame but myself. I just lost the love of my life.

I don’t even know how long I sat there. Seconds bled into minutes. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything. Without Roza, my life had no meaning, and I would never have her again.

How did it all go so wrong? One moment, we were making love. I was confessing my love to her with my words and my body. Our souls were one.

The next moment, she was calling me a ‘perverted child’. I clenched my fist at that thought. I was broken, but rage filled me. “_FUCK_!!!” I screamed out. In one breathtakingly fast movement, without time to reconsider, I punched the wall with all of my strength, leaving a fist-shaped hole. Randall would probably try to hit me for putting the hole in the wall, but right now, I didn’t even care.

I looked down. My knuckles were bleeding. It was nothing I didn’t deserve. I deserved so much more. How could I let myself lose her? 

How could I be so _stupid_? 

Why couldn’t I tell her the truth?

How could I get so attached, to begin with, to someone so utterly unattainable? Why couldn’t I just give her up before it got this serious? How could I let myself fall in love with her? 

I knew that last question was easy to answer, though: Roza was perfect. There was nothing about her that there wasn’t to love. There was no way I could know her without falling in love with her. As long as I lived, there would _never _be another woman like her.

But now she was gone. And she hoped she would never see me again.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I lost track of time as I sat on the stairs. I heard my stomach growl. I was hungry, but I didn't care. I should have gone home to Mama’s house for the night, so that I could be in bed in time for an early morning at school tomorrow, but I didn’t move from that spot. 

A chime sounded. I dimly recognized that it was a text message on my cell phone. My phone; it was such an unimportant thing that I didn’t even recall having put it in my pocket, but I must’ve done it out of habit when she handed it back to me before she put her own clothes back on. I pulled the phone out of my pocket and looked at it.

_Please let this be Roza_, I prayed, _Please let it be her giving me a chance to explain_…

I flipped the phone over and looked at the screen. It was a text message from Christian Ozera.

**_You really fucked up this one, Belikov. I told you that you needed to tell her._**

Another text chimed in. I looked again.

** _Now she’s not talking to either one of us._ **

I cringed and threw my phone across the room, shouting every good curse word I could think of. In the heat of the moment, I didn’t care if my phone broke. If I needed to, I could probably buy another one for ten dollars off of Craigslist.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

The next morning, I shut off my alarm. I didn’t want to go through school today. If I was really honest, I didn’t want to face another day at all.

My babushka always struck me as an odd cross between senile and clairvoyant, and I never knew which one I was going to get. She threw open my bedroom door without knocking or waiting, and unceremoniously walked in and slapped me in the face.

“Dimka,” she told me, adding in heavily-accented English, “You need to go to school today.”

“No, Babushka,” I said, faking a cough, “I’m sick today.”

“No, you’re not,” she replied, falling into Russian, “The only way to recover from what happened yesterday is to be there today.”

I opened my eyes and stared at her in shock. Did she know?

Babushka yanked the blankets off of me. I was still wearing the same clothes I had come home in yesterday. The dried blood from my knuckles had crusted onto the blankets and flaked off when she pulled, making them bleed all over again.

“You need to live your own life, Dimka,” she said, “All wounds heal in time.”

“But I lost her,” I said, “I don’t want to.”

“There’s an old saying,” Babushka said, still speaking in her more comfortable Russian, “If you love something, you should let it go. If it doesn’t come back to you, it was never yours to begin with.” 

I think she butchered that one. I groaned and tried to pull the covers back over my head. 

“Get dressed, Dimka. You don’t want to be late.” I groaned again and rolled out of bed, slowly forcing myself to keep moving forward, even if it was the last thing I wanted to do. 

“Oh, and Dimka?” Babushka said, “She will return to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you look out there, I put a preview for this chapter and the next several out on Facebook (page on profile).


	26. Life Goes On ... And On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you already saw me say repeatedly, the fabulous Richelle Mead has the rights to Vampire Academy   
No mature sexual content in this chapter  
A very special thanks to my TWO beta readers for chapters 25 and 26, RozamarieH and TheTrebbledMom

Some days, all you want to say, from the time you wake up in the morning until you fall asleep at night, is, “Fuck.” 

I wasn’t sure whether to trust my babushka’s statement or chalk it up to the early stages of dementia, but either way, I knew that if Rose was going to come back to me, it wouldn’t be that simple. _Everything _really worthwhile in life comes with a price. And after Sunday, that cost would be high.

It had been days since I showered or shaved. I hadn’t even combed my hair, which was just snarled, stringy, and gross. I probably smelled. I slept in my clothes half the time and they were covered in wrinkles and food stains, but I didn’t care anymore. I could barely sleep most nights, so the wrinkles probably weren’t as bad as they could’ve been. I didn’t cry in front of anyone, but between the lack of sleep and the crying I’d done when I was alone, my eyes were red and swollen. Other than when I was forced to or simply had no other option, I hadn’t eaten and I never went outside. I didn’t talk to anyone at all unless I was answering a question. Between my paleness, my gauntness, my isolation, and my red eyes, I probably seemed like the undead.

I had to leave for school again in ten minutes. Surprisingly, once I popped the battery door back on, my cell phone had survived my throw across the room on Sunday night with only a few minor scratches. I sat on my bed, re-reading my text logs from Monday night, letting the tears burn my eyes as they clouded my vision once more:

Me: **_Rose, will you please let me explain?_**

Rose: **_You had a chance to explain. You said nothing. _**

Rose: **_Now that you’ve had a chance to think up some more lies, you suddenly feel all chatty?_**

Me: **_ It’s not like that_**

Rose: **_Just stop, Dimitri. I won’t let you use me anymore_**

Me: **_But Rose, I love you_**

Me: **_You said that you love me, too_**

Rose: **_Love fades_**

Rose: **_Mine has_**

Rose: **_Now leave me alone_**

Me: **_Just let me explain, please_**

Rose: **_\--- DELIVERY FAILED. THIS NUMBER NO LONGER ACCEPTS YOUR CALLS. Message 503-217 ---_**

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I’d been sitting alone at my desk in homeroom with my head down on the desk surface. Class was due to start in five minutes, so I had time to talk with Ivan in the hallway, but I didn’t want to deal with any of his questions yet. Or ever. 

“Dimitri! What are you doing in here all alone?”

Fuck, it was Jill. I’d forgotten she was in my homeroom class. I kept my head down and pretended like I hadn’t heard her. I heard her pull out the chair next to mine and sit in the empty seat beside me.

“Are you not feeling well?” she asked, “Maybe you should go home sick.”

I continued laying against the desk. On the plus side - sort of - I guess this at least means that Rose is still speaking to _someone_ who knew my secret.

Jill began tapping on my shoulder, saying “Dimitri? Dimitri? Dimitri?”

“Go away,” I bellowed, internally groaning a little at the gruff tone I had used with Jill. Just because my world was crumbling around me didn’t necessarily mean I had to treat everyone else like trash.

“Do you want me to call the school nurse?” she asked, craning her head over me.

“No,” I scoffed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, taken aback by my demeanor. Jill and I had never really been more than friends and we’d had a very amicable mutual split, so it was easy for us to drift back to our casual friendship after our breakup. It was clear that she cared and wanted to help now.

“It’s over,” I told her.

“What’s over?” she asked, sounding all too confused. I still hadn’t lifted my head to look at her, but I could picture that insecure clueless look that was just so Jill.

“My life,” I told her, sounding maybe only half as depressed as I felt and speaking into my desk, “My whole life. Everything.”

“Everything?” she asked, and I could hear the smile in her voice, “C’mon, Dimitri, it can’t be that bad, now, really?”

I turned to face Jill, letting her take in my unshaven face and my red-rimmed eyes. Another traitorous tear slid down my cheek as I faced her.

“Everything,” I told her, “Everything good left with her.”

Jill looked at me and covered her mouth as she gasped. “Rose?” she exclaimed, “Rose left you?”

I nodded sluggishly, but that was all I could muster.

“But she seemed so in love!” she said, “She seemed like she’d never been this happy - in all of the time I’ve known her!”

“Happiness is a lie,” I told her, grimly, “And so is love.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

“Dimitri,” Ivan asked me for maybe the thousandth time as we went through the lunch line at school, “I just want to know what happened. Can’t you tell me? I mean, it seemed like things were going so great.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I told him for my thousandth reply as Ivan paid for his food.

“Maybe I can get Jill to find out more,” Ivan said, as he began to walk away from me.

I stopped him, grabbing his arm. “No!”

“Why not? It’s not like you’ll tell me anything,” Ivan said, “It’s either Jill or I go to Rose’s house and ask her. It’s the grey one - right?”

I got in Ivan’s face, gripping his bicep tightly and nearly growling as I told him, with my teeth gritted, “You are _not _going to Rose’s house! She needs to be left alone! Is that clear?”

A look of fear passed over his face as Ivan nodded. “Okay,” he uttered, barely above a whisper. A few seconds ticked by as we stood like that and then Ivan said, “Are you going to let me go now, Dimitri?”

I hadn’t even realized how tight my grip was on him. My knuckles were white and I could only imagine how his arm felt. I let my fingers loosen on Ivan’s arm. He pulled free and walked away to sit down at a table with our friends. Normally, I would have sat at the same table he was sitting at, but today I just wanted to be alone. I took my food and sat at an empty table in the corner of the cafeteria.

I began chewing my food, not really tasting anything. A few minutes went by and I noticed that my apple and milk were finished. All that was left to eat was my slice of pizza. 

Pepperoni Pizza. 

Like Rose had eaten that first night we met. 

I sighed.

“Hey, are you Dimitri Belikov?” a masculine voice asked.

Without even looking up, I bit into my pizza and said, through my mouthful of food, “Yes. So what?”

“May I sit here?” he asked.

Irritably, I told him, “It’s a free table.”

“I just wanted to talk to you about track and field,” he said, “Coach Alto asked me to throw discus like you are now when I was just a little younger than your age.”

That made me look up for the briefest of moments. In front of me stood a muscular man who looked to be in his early twenties, with flame red hair and freckles, clothed entirely in our state university’s red and blue athletics attire. He extended his hand as to shake it. “My name’s Mason Ashford. I’m the track and field throws coach for State University. I’d like to talk to you about your future.”

I could care less about my own future, but for my family’s sake, and because my mama always told me to be polite to strangers, I couldn’t afford not to make nice with this guy. I extended my hand to shake his, keeping my face down so that he couldn’t see the red rims around my eyes.

“You look like something’s bothering you, Dimitri - do you mind if I call you Dimitri?” I noncommittally shrugged and then shook my head. “Did I catch you at a bad time?” he asked, as he sat across from me.

I thought about lying and just trying to play it off until he went away, but there was just honestly no playing this off. Plus, I had done enough lying recently for my whole life. “Yes,” I told him honestly.

“Are you stressed about the state track meet?” he asked me.

“No,” I said, and still deep in thought I just blurted out, “It’s actually about a girl - woman, really.”

“Ah,” he said, “I know the feeling. I was actually suffering through something very similar when I was competing at states. Bad timing for it,” he continued, changing the subject, “I actually just got done talking to the Zeklos kid over there. Ivan - you know him?” I gave a small nod. “He seems like a decent guy. He has the height like you do, but he’s a little skinny for a thrower. Still, he’s a nice guy. Anyways, he said he was a friend of yours. He spent the last ten minutes talking you up to me. He said that there’s no one more deserving of winning the state title than you, and he told me all about how hard you’ve been training; said you’d been lifting extra hard for extra sets last week training for the meet, but that you’re off your game lately. I don’t doubt it’s because of this girl that you’re thrown off, but you’ve really been doing all of the right stuff, Dimitri.”

“I try, sir,” I said.

“Call me Mason - or Mase,” he told me, with a smile in his voice, “Let me be frank with you, Dimitri: I hope to see you next year at State.”

Ah, this again. All the recruiters trying to get me to go to their schools so that I can make them more money - and pay more money in tuition that my family didn’t even have. My sudden bout of politeness might just have to evaporate if he can’t take ‘no’ for an answer. 

Not that it matters, really, anyways. Not without Roza.

“I can’t really afford it, ‘Mase’. My family doesn’t even make enough to send me to Springfield Community College without my working a part-time job to pay for it,” I told him. 

“Belikov, I’ve seen your stats. I’ve got a lot of scholarship money to give to someone and I’d love to be able to give it to a St. Vlad’s alum. Show me you’ve got the right stuff at the meet and it could be yours. If you take first at states this Friday - and I know you could - I’m talking about a full ride, including room and board. Even textbooks. I’m sure that assistance could help your family.”

I turned my face up to him again, out of shock, letting him truly take in my empty expression, my tear-stained eyes, my stubble-covered face, wrinkled clothes, uncombed hair, and overall dishevelled appearance for the first time. For the incredible offer he had just made, he might as well have been offering me the moon. A full ride for four years at State - five if I red-shirted for a year - would be more than one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars. That’s nearly what my family’s _house _cost! 

I didn’t want to think about future happiness and opportunities. Not without Roza. All of it was meaningless without her. But for my family, I had to try for this scholarship. I couldn’t let them lose this chance.

“Wow,” he said, taking in my appearance for the first time, “This girl’s really done a number on you, hasn’t she? Do you want to talk about it?”

I began to shake my head, but then I thought, _Why not? I don’t know this guy. He doesn’t know me. It’s a perfect way to talk it through with an impartial outsider._ I gave him a sincere almost-grin and said, “Okay.”

“Tell me about her,” he said, smiling.

“She’s just the perfect woman,” I began, suddenly thinking of all the great things about Roza, “I’ve never met anyone like her. When it comes to things that really matter, she is just absolutely fierce. She’ll do anything - even something totally crazy - for the people she cares about. And she has this quirky sense of humor that always makes me smile when I’m trying to be serious. We were so in love. When we kissed, it was like the whole world stood still and we were the only two people who ever existed. We had a really bad fight Sunday, but before that, I never had a moment with her when just simply being with her didn’t bring me peace or happiness.” Without even meaning to, I had opened up my heart to her memory, thinking of Rose and loving her with reckless abandon.

“It sounds like you have it bad. Pretty, too, I take it?”

“It’s more than just that she’s pretty. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen: dark eyes full of fire; long, silky dark hair; soft, full, pink lips; a smile that sparkles and just lights up the whole room; and the cutest dimple on her right cheek.” _Not to mention her amazing body_. Although I tried not to dwell on it, my skin felt hot at the mere thought of the view and feel of her soft skin and curves beneath my hands.

“If I didn’t know better, I would almost say you were talking about the same woman who broke _my _heart,” he said with an almost smirk on his face, looking off into the distance as if he were remembering something, “What did you fight about?”

“I lied to her,” I told him, but then I corrected myself, saying, “Well, actually, I didn’t _lie_; I just didn’t correct her when she made a wrong assumption.”

“But you didn’t actually lie? Outright, I mean?” he asked.

I shook my head and frowned. “No.”

“Maybe you’re looking at this wrong, Belikov,” he told me, “I’m gonna go way beyond your typical coaching mentor here and share my personal experience with you. Here’s what I did at the state track meet: I had just - after nearly ten years of feeling like I was in love with this girl I had practically grown up with - confessed that I had feelings for her and she had told me that I was one of her best friends, but that I could never be more than that. I felt like my world was over. But I _used _that feeling. And I used that time away from her to focus on my events. No distractions, no interruptions, just me, my strength, and my sport. Dimitri, use this as a chance to go into this track meet completely focused and unfettered - and channel all of that anger and frustration from this fight with your girl into it. Take this event and kick its ass.”

I took a deep breath and just stopped from shaking my head ‘no’ at his suggestion. I didn’t think I could do what he was asking. I couldn’t let Roza leave my thoughts. I couldn’t _not _focus on her. Without Rose, I just didn’t _want _to win anything anymore.

“And maybe if you give it a little time, this girl - what’s her name?” he asked.

“Rose,” I croaked out, my voice cracking at the mere mention of her name.

Mason gave a brief chuckle. “She even has the same name,” he said, “Maybe if you give it a little time, Rose will come around and realize that this is as much because of her own assumption as it is because of anything you said. Maybe she’ll come back to you?”

“Not likely,” I told him, “No one holds a grudge like Rose.”

“Wow,” he said, with a chuckle, “She really _is _a lot like my Rose. Takes me back to my St. Vlad’s days. At least your friend, the Zeklos kid, seems like a really nice guy and it seems like he’s really in your corner. Did you ever hear of Jesse Zeklos?”

I winced. Just hearing about Jesse again anywhere near the context of Rose made me bristle. “I knew _of _him, mostly second-hand and by reputation. And he’s Ivan’s cousin.”

“Yeah, I could see the family resemblance,” he said, meaningfully, “You know what I mean about him, though. I can see it in your eyes.”

Both at the same time, Mason and I said, in perfect unison, “Rose dated him.”

He pinned my eyes with his suddenly shrewd gaze. I think he realized it the same time I did. We were talking about the same girl! 

“Well,” he said, “it seems we have more in common than I thought, Dimitri. Rose Hathaway - Mazur - is an amazing woman. I would’ve guessed she’s a bit old for you, Belikov, but I guess love doesn’t have a clock.”

I nodded and then frowned, suddenly feeling even more despondent. If only he knew that was the source of my problem...

Mason said, with a consoling look, “If she’s the one you’re reeling from, I get it. Believe me, I get it. I told her I could _never _see myself loving anyone else but her and she - instantly - replied by telling me that she could _never _see me as more than a friend. If it makes you feel better, if Rose hadn’t shot me down, I never would’ve gone out with my wife, Meredith.” Mason pointed to his wedding band. “Married two years and counting; never been happier. And Rose and I are still good friends.”

I shook my head and scowled. “That’s not going to happen in my situation. There’s no one but Rose for me,” I told him, frankly.

“Do you want me to put in a good word for you?” he asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. 

I could only stare at him. Why would he do that for me, when we just met? Especially to the girl he had loved - and knowing that my best friend was very closely related to the scum of the earth that hurt Rose before?

“I’m really good at reading people, Dimitri. I can see how you feel about her and that you’re a good guy. Way better for her than Jesse. I’d be glad to talk with her to try to patch this up for you.”

“You don’t have to -” I began.

“But first,” he said, sniffing slightly, “take a shower. Clean yourself up a little. Pick yourself up off the floor and dust yourself off. And you’ve gotta win states. First place. Or at least show me that you tried to win. You’ve got to show me that you can keep on living your life and pick up the pieces without Rose - that you can still go on.”

“I’ll win it,” I told him, resolute in my plan, “But I’ll do it for her. I’d do _anything _for her.” Even if there was the tiniest of chances that he could get through to her on my behalf to get her back, I would take it.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I looked at the clock on the wall as I was just walking into the house from work for the night. It was eight thirty-two. As the house phone rang again, I finally broke down and reached to pick it up from the kitchen wall.

“Hello?” I asked.

I was met by silence on the other end. Just as I was about to hang up, I heard Ivan’s voice ask, “Is - is Viktoria there?”

I growled. “Ivan,” I told him, “You hurt my sister, I swear to God that I will hunt you down and strangle you with your own intestines, then pluck out your eyeballs before you lose consciousness and show them to you.”

“Whoa! Dark, Dimitri! I just want to talk to her on the phone! Not like I want to make her my personal sex slave or something.” I began to breathe a little easier and prepared to get Vika, then Ivan added, in a quiet but teasing tone, with a little laugh, “Although, that honestly doesn’t sound so bad, either!”

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose, and then called out for Vika, adding in Russian when she came to take the phone, “Don’t trust this asshole. He just wants to get down your pants.”

Viktoria took the phone and said, “Hello,” and carried the phone to her room. A few moments after she came back out and hung up, she said to me, “You worry too much. It’s my own business when and who gets into my pants. But that’s not what Ivan wanted. He’s worried about you, Dimka. He really cares - and he wants to know what happened with Roza. He’s a nice guy. You should give him a chance. And he would do just about anything for you. You know you really hurt his feelings today?”

I wasn’t sure if Ivan was playing some sort of game with Vika or not. “Hurt his feelings?” I asked, “How so?”

“You haven’t talked to him since Sunday except to answer questions about trivial things like what page you’re on in the textbook or to tell him to _go away_. He says that at lunch today, you grabbed his arm so hard that you left a hand-shaped bruise and then made him feel like you thought he was complete trash for even thinking to ask what happened,” Vika said, “He didn’t even want to tell me what happened with you two, but he kept asking me if I knew what happened to you and if there was something I could do to help you. Finally, I just asked him to help you himself and that’s when he told me.”

It hit me then just how much I was letting this affect everyone else. I missed Rose. I love Rose - past, present, and future tense. I _ached _for Rose, heart, body, and soul. It hurt to even think of her. But I couldn’t treat everyone else like shit just because she had left me. Rose wouldn’t want me to act that way, whether I was with her or not.

I picked up my cell phone and sent Ivan a text: 

** _I’m sorry _ **

** _This Rose thing has been really hard on me. I CAN’T talk about it yet, tho _ **

** _Still bros?_ **

Almost instantly, Ivan replied, using the nickname that only my Russian family had used up until this point. **_Bros 4 life, DIMKA. But it doesn’t mean I won’t want 2 know when u r ready_**

I replied, **_It’s gonna be a while_**

Ivan: **_I can wait. That’s what friends do_**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you look out there, I posted a preview and a theme song for this chapter a few weeks ago on Facebook (page on profile). Wonder what you’re missing? Wonder what comes next? Wonder what the ^&*$% HonestPassion13 is thinking? Facebook is the place to answer all those and more.  
I know things look especially bleak right now, but I promise there is a happily-ever-after ending coming. I love Rose and Dimitri ending up together too much to leave them like this.


	27. Beauty In the Ashes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy  
This is our last chapter of any angsty sadness for this story. Next chapter, good things will be happening.  
Special thanks to my TWO beautiful and talented beta readers for this chapter, RozamarieH and TheTrebledMom!

By Friday afternoon, the whole school knew I was going to be competing on Saturday and had rallied around me. At the end of the day, the announcements over the P.A. system gave details of the meet to the entire school. I groaned when I heard wild cheering as the announcement came that I was ranked first in my event.

I didn’t relish the attention. I’d never been one to go for the glory, but especially now when I was still reeling from losing Roza, I couldn’t deal with it. As soon as class ended, I grabbed everything from my locker and bolted to my car. From there, it was only a few minutes’ drive to get to Randall’s house, where I would be for the rest of the weekend.

The state track meet would be held on Saturday morning, but there wasn’t a chance Randall would ever go. I was thankful for that, but I still had to stay at his house on Friday night. 

When I arrived, I looked over at Rose and Lissa’s house. Rose’s car was not in the drive. Despondently, I wondered if she was out on a date with someone else. Somehow, her love had faded, already. She was free to do whatever she wanted, without attachment or restraint - to go have a good time and not think at all about the guy who loved her - especially since I don’t think she believed that I loved her.

I walked inside, dropped my bag at the door, and headed up the stairs to sleep for the night. I set my alarm and just crashed. Maybe tomorrow would bring something better.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I stood waiting as the official pulled the tape taut from my final and best throw of the competition. I had been the last thrower and this was my last throw. My best competitors had all taken their final hurls and had a top score of one hundred seventy-six feet among them, while my best throw so far was only a little over one hundred seventy-three feet, so I hadn’t bested the others yet. The wind was not in my favor today, but I gave it my best. If I was going to win states, it all came down to the measurement on the tape in front of me.

“One hundred ninety feet, two inches!” yelled the official reading the tape over the discus ring.

I stood there, stunned. I had just won the state title in the discus, by a wide margin, securing the annual state championship title; the school, field, meet, and state records; and the scholarship money to State University. 

But most importantly, I’d secured my part in Mason Ashford’s offer to speak with Roza about me. 

I stood in awe, speechless and unmoving, looking at the ring. I don’t know how long I stood there, but eventually, after almost everyone had begun to walk away, I felt a hand on my shoulder. 

“Dimitri, you did it,” said Mase from behind me.

I nodded, still staring at the ring. “I did.”

“Is your family here?” he asked, “I’d like to meet them.”

I turned to look at where the spectators had been. My family had been there earlier, but I wasn’t sure if they were still there now. My mother sat in her chair, a worried look on her face. Next to her were Karolina with baby Zoya on her lap, my nephew Paul, and my babushka, but my other sisters couldn’t make it today.

My mother hadn’t said a word to me about my change in behavior over the past week, but I knew that she knew something was wrong. It was clear now as I looked at her face that she had wanted to ask.

I looked at Mase, pointing at my family. “That’s them, over there,” I said, and I began to lead him towards them. As we walked, I was almost afraid to ask him about Rose. I think it would break me inside if he chose not to keep his word.

“I already talked to her, Dimitri,” Mason said, almost reading my mind, “Well, texted her, anyways.”

I stopped and turned to Mason. “You did?” I asked. So many emotions crossed my mind: relief that he had kept his word; surprise that he had contacted her before I had even finished, even when someone else had done better than I had; curiosity at what he had told her; excitement that he might be able to get through; and worst, fear that she still wouldn’t respond. I arched an eyebrow and asked him, “Why? And what did you tell her?”

“That one-seventy-three you got would’ve won state last year. You proved to me that you were giving it your best. Rose didn’t reply yet, but here’s what I sent her so far,” he said, tapping on the screen a few times and then holding out his cell phone so that I could see it.

On the screen, I saw: **_Any chance you’d consider having a conversation with me about Dimitri Belikov?_**

I frowned, but Mason said, “I know Rose well enough to tell you that I have to start slow with her. She’s like a deer in the forest when it comes to stuff that could piss her off. One wrong thing will spook her and she’ll bail. I’ll work my way up to asking her to give you another chance, though.”

I hesitantly nodded and began walking towards my family again. In theory, my mind agreed with him about Rose. She’d been through enough - and burned badly enough by relationships before - that he couldn’t just start with asking her to forgive me and take me back. My heart, however, was tired of all of this. I just wanted to have her back in my arms again, telling her that I loved her over and over again and kissing her soft lips. I swore to myself that if I got her back from this, that I would never let her go again.

When we arrived at where my family was seated, my mother said to me, “Dimka, I heard chiming from your bag a few minutes ago. I think you might have a new message.”

I instantly hoped it was Roza. I reached for my bag and frantically dug, searching for my phone. As I searched, I pulled out clothes, my changes of shoes, my soap, deodorant, athletic tape, and more, dropping them all on the ground next to my bag, but couldn’t locate my phone.

Karolina said, “Are you looking for this?” I looked over and she was holding up my phone. “I took it out when it started chiming because I didn’t want Zoya to wake up.

I pulled my phone from her hands as Mase stood patiently behind me, waiting for an introduction that I wasn’t yet giving. The screen showed that I had three new text messages. _Three_? I began to scroll to them quickly, but Mason cleared his throat behind me. I could tell he was trying to be patient, but he had come for an introduction. I frowned, looking back and forth between him and my phone, then held the phone down to my side, saying, “Mama, I’d like to introduce Mason Ashford. Mase is the throws coach at State University. Mason, this is my mother, Olena Belikova.” I held out my hand, directing my introductions. “And this is my sister Karolina, and her children, Paul and Zoya.”

Mason outstretched his hand to my Mama and she took it and shook his hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am,” said Mason, “Your son is a very talented guy. And I know family is very important to Dimitri.” 

I looked at him meaningfully and he mouthed ‘Ivan’ to me.

Mason continued, “Mrs. Belikova, I’d like to offer Dimitri a scholarship to attend State. I’m authorized to give up to thirty thousand dollars a year for tuition, fees, books and supplies, and room and board. Additionally, all of his track and field supplies - including clothes, shoes, and throwing implements - would be provided free of charge.”

By the time Mase mentioned the thirty thousand, Mama had her hand over her gaping mouth. If she hadn’t already been standing, I would’ve been surprised if she didn’t reach for a chair to sit down. Taking Mason’s hand again, Mama choked out between her apparent tears, “_Vau, eto ochen' shchedro, mister Eshford. Bud'te zdorovy_.”

I cleared my throat and translated for him, “She said, ‘Wow, that’s very generous. God bless you.’”

Mason looked at me and asked, “I’m sorry - does your mother not speak English?”

Switching back to English, Mama said, “Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr. Ashford! My emotions get the better of me sometimes when it comes to Dimitri.”

Mason patted my mother’s hand, since she had still not let him go, saying, “It’s my pleasure, Mrs. Belikova. I really wanted to be able to give this scholarship to a fellow St. Vlad’s grad. I also know what it’s like to live in a family with a single mother. And Dimitri is unique, too; talent and skill together are rare, but he’s got them both in a six foot seven package. There are a lot of things I can teach an athlete, but height isn’t one of them.”

Mama laughed at that, saying, “Well, my Dimka has always been a big boy.” I groaned at my mother’s embarrassment, making me sound like a young child.

“If you’d like, I can have all the paperwork drawn up and sent to your house before graduation next weekend. All you’ll have to do is drop your acceptance in the mail, assuming Dimitri’s already applied for admission.”

I’d never even thought to apply to State because of the cost. I scratched the back of my neck. “Well, actually, Mase …” I said.

“Dimitri, if you haven’t already applied, you’ll need to work with our admissions office to get your application in over the next few days. I’ve got an application in my car that I can give you before I leave here today. I’ve seen your grades and test scores, though, so I’m sure you’ll be fast-tracked for application approval. From there, Financial Aid will review your need and I can offer up scholarships for whatever PELL grants don’t cover. You’ve already filled out your FAFSA - right?”

I nodded, and said, “Yes, at least one of my older sisters has filled one out every year since I was nine. Plenty of practice in this household.”

Suddenly, Mason’s eyes lit up, as if he was just recalling something. He looked at me and asked, “You wouldn’t, by chance, be related to Sonja Belikova, would you?”

“Yes, she’s one of my other sisters. Why do you ask?”

“Sonja was the year before me at St. Vlad’s. I didn’t know her really well, but there were a lot of rumors. Much like Rose, I’m sure none of them were true, though.”

I frowned. “What rumors?” I asked.

At nearly the same time, Mama asked me, “Dimka, does Mr. Ashford know _your Roza_?”

I scratched the back of my neck again and tried to play ignorant as I told Mama, “Well, he did go to St. Vladimir’s around the same time as Rose.” I was desperately hoping Mama wouldn’t make the connection when he said her name, but unfortunately, that hope was in vain.  
Mason replied to Mama, “Rose Hathaway - I’m sorry, Mazur - has been one of my good friends since we were in kindergarten. The rumors about Sonja were mostly just idle gossip. Very similar to the ones about Rose.”

It hadn’t escaped my mother’s notice that Mason had called Rose ‘Hathaway’ before correcting himself. She narrowed her eyes at me knowingly. I felt like this was a discussion for another time, though, and I tried to position myself between Mason and my mother.

“It’s all just bad luck piled on top of gossip,” he said, “One guy makes up a story when he doesn’t get what he wants and another tries to top it. Rose once told me that she walked in on Rolan Kislyak trying to take advantage of Sonja at a party my senior year. As I understand it, Rose walked in on them and saw what he was doing, then kicked his ass. Shame it didn’t stop him from going after other girls. I heard he was right back at it at the next party. A few years later, I guess some girl’s four older brothers messed him up pretty bad, though - broke his nose and everything - and he hasn’t bothered anyone since then.”

Just hearing Rolan’s name rankled me, let alone hearing the story that four older brothers had been responsible for what happened. Mason must’ve seen the recognition in my eyes when he said it. “That’s the same face you made when I mentioned Jesse Zeklos. You knew Rolan?”

“He dated my sister Viktoria for a few months. It wasn’t four older brothers, it was one younger brother,” I said lamely, “and I didn’t break his nose; I just bruised it a little.”

“Dimitri, I like you more and more,” said Mason, clapping me on the back, “Come with me and we’ll get you that application.”

I picked up the contents of my bag and brought it with me as I went to follow Mason. As we walked to Mason’s car, I checked my text messages. There were two messages from Adrian and a message from Rose. I couldn’t help but click into the message from Rose first. **_I’m blocking you again as soon as I send this. Do you seriously know all of my acquaintances, though? Really?_**

I smiled. It was a start, even if I was still blocked.

I scrolled to Adrian’s messages.

** _Rose is PISSED, Dude. I told you that you needed to tell her._ **

** _Mind if I come over to Randall’s tonight and hang? I have the night off. I could bring my xbox?_ **

I started to type in the text for a reply: **_Not tonight. I need some time alone_**

“Everything okay?” Mason asked, arriving at his car.

“Yeah,” I said, “Just a text from my cousin. He wants to hang out tonight.”

“You should,” said Mason, “You’ve been wallowing in sadness for how long? A week now?” I shrugged and gave a half-nod. “No one’s asking you to forget about Rose or give up on her, but you know that even if she comes back to you, this is going to take some time. You don’t have to be ‘okay’ yet, but you need to get back to a normal life. Do something just for you, just for a little while. Don’t let this break you, Dimitri. Do you really think Rose is going to want some guy who lashes out at the people closest to him and can’t even take a shower; someone who’s too weak to face a normal day?”

My brain knew he was right, even if my heart wasn’t in it. Rose wouldn’t want me if she saw how pathetic I was behaving. And Rose was all that mattered.

I retyped the message. **_OK, but I’m not going to talk about Rose._**

\--=o0/&\0o=--

Adrian brought his game system over and we were on our fourth game. Since I didn’t get to play video games very often, I had already lost three times and wasn’t doing so well on this fourth one. His X-Box was one of the few remnants of his life with his own father before Uncle Nathan abandoned their family to leave Aunt Daniella and Adrian to fend for themselves the day after Adrian had turned eighteen, three years ago. 

We all had our theories on why Nathan had waited, but my best guess was so that he wouldn’t have to pay child support. Uncle Nathan was nearly as cheap as Randall. Since Uncle Nathan had packed up and moved, Mama and Babushka had stepped in to help him and his mother. 

Nathan leaving was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to Adrian because it caused him to take on a lot of responsibilities that I never thought he would. Before it all happened, I honestly envisioned him being the sort of guy who takes art classes in college for a year and then drops out. A few months after Nathan had left, Adrian had started picking up odd jobs to help pay the bills, something I honestly never thought I would see him doing. By the time he turned twenty-one last summer, Adrian was paying his own way through college and was well on his way to his degree in Elementary Education.

“_Blyad’_!” I cursed as the car on the screen went careening off of the path again. A second later, Adrian won the game.

“Language, Dimka!” Adrian joked, “Honestly, what kind of example are you setting for your nieces and nephew with a mouth like that?”

“One who doesn’t like to lose,” I told him.

“If you didn’t like to lose so much, you should’ve thought of that before you lied to Rose Hathaway,” he pointed out, setting down his game controller.

I looked at Adrian with a look that could skewer him in half. “I told you that I didn’t want to talk about Rose. Besides, I didn’t lie.”

Adrian got up, running his fingers through his already-messy hair. “If you didn’t lie, then how do you explain why Rose thought you were older than you are?”

I sighed deeply. “She just assumed I was older when we met. I didn’t correct her.”

Adrian touched the tip of his nose and pointed at me. “Deception by omission is still a lie, buddy. You should know that,” he said.

I frowned. “I never thought that the day would come when I’m getting advice on morals from Adrian Ivashkov.”

Adrian grinned and winked. “Mark it on your calendar. You won’t see it happen again anytime soon.”

“So, I take it she’s not talking to you, either?” I asked him.

“Actually,” he said, “she gave me five minutes to explain and then gave me the benefit of the doubt. I explained to her that it wasn’t my secret to tell but that I had given you a couple of months and that I would’ve told her by then if you hadn’t. I even showed her the text I sent you saying that.”

“So she’s good with you?” I asked, “Despite keeping it from her?”

Adrian smiled and nodded. “Pretty much.”

“Are you willing to put in a good word for me, then?” I asked, hoping and praying that he would.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to talk about Rose?” Adrian asked, smirking at me.

“This is different.”

“Not a chance will I put in a good word. I’m not going to risk the wrath of a Hathaway. She knows how to hold a grudge. Why does it matter?”

“Because I love her, Adrian,” I told him, rubbing a weary hand over my face, “And I _have _to get her back. Or die trying.”

“What are you going to do when she goes back to State University in August? She won’t be renting the house next door to Randall anymore.”

I furrowed my forehead. If I got the scholarship money from Mason, I wouldn’t need to go to Randall’s house on weekends anymore, either. Especially since graduation was only a week away. At first, I could only think that this was yet another obstacle, but then I realized something.

“Wait - Rose goes to State?” I asked him.

Adrian gave me that knowing grin. “You didn't know that, either; did you?”

“No, but it works out perfectly,” I told him. I explained to him how I was offered the scholarship this morning after winning the state track meet.

“Well, maybe you’ll still get a shot with her, then,” Adrian said, “I’m hesitant to say this, Dimka, but you know I have a way of reading people and this one’s just too evident - and important - not to say. You shouldn’t have lied to her, buuutttt ... I really hope it all works out for you two. There’s something about the way you talk about her, the way you looked at her, the way you were when she was around you - and the way _she _was around you. I just feel like it’s meant to be.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

On Sunday night when I arrived back home, at least an hour later than I would usually arrive, it was already dark out. I walked slowly up the walk, too weary for anything more than trudging along. I saw a man and a woman standing on the porch, facing each other. The woman had her back to me, facing the man. From the dark hair, I knew that it was one of my sisters, but it was difficult to tell which one. As I walked along the path to the front porch steps, the outline of the man’s face became clear to me. 

Why was Ivan on my porch talking to my sister? Was this more of his trying to stage an intervention?

“I really had a nice time with you this weekend, Ivan,” came the voice I recognized as Viktoria, “I didn’t realize you were so … nice.” Vika twirled her hair, flipping it forward, as she finished her statement.

I couldn’t believe this. Vika was flirting with Ivan.

“I’ve _always _known you were nice,” Ivan replied, as his voice dropped down an octave, “and I had a nice time with you, too. I can’t wait to see you again next weekend. You’re coming to graduation, too - right?” 

Viktoria laughed. “You know Mama would kill me if I missed Dimka’s graduation. And Dimka probably would, too - especially if things go like we hope they will. But I’m sure I could make some time to spend with you. You know,” said Viktoria, running her fingers along the neckline of Ivan’s dress shirt that he still had on from church, “Dimitri told me that you wanted to get down my pants.”

Ivan replied, “Well, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t find you attractive or that I wouldn’t honestly love to see you without your pants on, too. But a woman like you deserves to be wooed.” He cupped the side of her face and added, “Worshipped.”

It looked like they were about five seconds away from going in for a kiss. I could _not _be here for this. I didn’t know whether to throw up or go choke the life out of my best friend. I cleared my throat as I reached the top of the porch steps, desperate to break up the conversation. Both of them turned to me, startled.

“Dimka!” Vika said, moving to put distance between her and Ivan, “I didn’t realize you weren’t already home!” 

Ivan whispered something I didn’t hear to Viktoria, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“Were you at Randall’s?” Vika asked me.

“Where else would I have been?” I asked, irritated that she would even ask such a ridiculous question.

“Did you see Rose this afternoon?” Ivan asked.

“Of course not,” I told him, getting more irritated by the second.

“Dimka, can you go inside?” Viktoria asked, “Ivan and I have some,” she looked at Ivan and cleared her throat. I saw pink tinging her cheeks as she finished, “things to talk about.”

I looked at Ivan irritatedly. Could I trust him with my sister? Assuming I could, could I even let the two of them be so happy when I was so miserable? “Fine,” I finally said, adding, “But Ivan, you better treat Viktoria with respect or those bruises on your arm won’t be the only ones you get from me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You’ll only see me say this once, and I’ll probably delete this author note a week or two after this chapter goes live, because a clever person with a creative internet search who has seen my first name in one of my earlier reviews or in a PM I sent would have enough information to glean my home address and very publicly listed home phone number from all this, but my husband was an NCAA national champion in the discus (among other events) in track and field, multiple years, and has since coached at the collegiate level and competed individually for several years, so I took a lot of real-world knowledge from him for the discus throwing stuff. Knowing the way my husband describes a lot of throwing event physics, I always assumed a muscular 6’7” guy would be an extra-exceptional thrower, just based on body shape and size, so it made sense for me to give Dimitri that as his spring-season sport.  
P.S. For those of you who have no idea, much like golf or bowling, track and field throws events are often nail-biting for about 30-40 seconds maybe three to five times over the course of the event, and then bore you to tears for about 3 hours, so you can thank me for cutting to the chase on this one. Special shout out to fellow writer on Fanfiction dot net, A. Estrella, who has mentioned in one of her author notes that she’s also a thrower.   
Also worth mentioning, a portion of the first chapter of Little Paper Hearts was actually inspired by my husband doing hammer-throwing turns in the kitchen in the middle of the night this past January.


	28. Goodbye High Expectations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy   
There is still no mature sexual content ahead  
A HUGE thanks to my two beta readers for this chapter, RozamarieH and TheTrebledMom.

** _Flashback:_ **

_I was sitting at my desk in my room at home - my real home, not at Randall’s. Just yesterday, I had lost the bet with Ivan about whether to call Rose the day after our date or if she would call me when I didn’t, and my arms were already aching from my first day of lifting. _

_Ivan had been right. He knew women more than I did. I tried to keep my mind from reconciling the fact that he might’ve been right about telling Rose the truth about my age._

_Rose had told me Saturday night, “I’m willing to wait until we’re both ready, but I’d like to be your first, Dimitri.” Perhaps that meant she was willing to be understanding and patient about the other things that were standing in my way, too._

_I pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing a note to her:_

** _Roza,_ **

** _I am writing this as a note because I am too afraid to tell you what I have to say in person. If I’m really honest, I think I’ve loved you since the moment I met you. I know it’s too soon for that and I’m probably just being naive and irrational, but I can’t help the way that I feel. I’ve only known you for a little more than a week now, but there’s no other word for how I feel about you. That love is why I’m so afraid to tell you what I’m about to say; because it would absolutely break me if this was the reason that you chose to end things with me._ **

** _I’m not a kid, but I am still in high school at St. Vladimir’s, Roza. I am eighteen years old. My birthday was in November. I’ll be graduating at the end of this school year. I’m sorry to have to be so blunt to tell you this way, but there’s really no right or easy way to do this, so I am just trying to rip the bandage off and tell you. _ **

** _I never meant to lie to you. I never told you I was older than eighteen. I just didn’t correct it when you assumed I was older than I am. I wanted so badly to be the man you thought I was; the man you wanted me to be. I wanted to be whatever you wanted - because I wanted you. You’re all I will ever want. Please don’t hold it against me that I wanted you badly enough that I tried to let you think I was what you wanted._ **

** _I love you without reservation. I feel like we could have a future together and I want that more than anything. Please don’t let this come between us._ **

** _Love,_ **

** _Dimitri_ **

_After I finished writing it, I took the note and sat on my bed, staring at it for around ten minutes, reading and re-reading it. Then I folded it, held it in my hand, and sat with it, staring at it as if it were either the cure for cancer or my execution order, just feeling the weight of it for another ten minutes. _

_Finally, I decided it was a stupid idea and it would never work. Roza would never care for me if she found out how young I really was. She’d be mortified and embarrassed that she had ever even kissed a high school student. I growled and balled the letter up, throwing it in the air, watching as it landed in the hallway. I laid back on my bed, just wallowing in the moment of shame and feeling the ache in my tired arms. I’d pick the note up later._

\--=o0/&\0o=--

**Today:**

I was putting on my suit for the graduation ceremony. It was one of the few times when both of my parents would be in the same room, so I tried to focus on my family and not on the gnawing hole in my heart from knowing that I wouldn’t be going back to Randall’s house after this - and therefore I wouldn’t be next-door to Rose’s again for the rest of the summer while she was living next-door to him.

I began fixing my tie, which was always a complicated process. I was jealous of my friends who had internet access at home to watch videos and look up instructional diagrams to tie a tie. Randall never showed me how, so I had learned on my own. Often, I would just leave it fastened loosely over a hanger so that I just had to put it on and re-tighten it. This particular tie, however, had been the one I had been wearing when Rose pulled it off of me the afternoon we’d made love. I frowned at the bittersweet memory of our time together, trying to get my brain to focus on the task at hand and not the memories it brought back.

My phone, sitting screen-up on the bedside table, chirped as the sound of a new text message came in. The screen showed it was from Mason. He’d been texting me all week as he worked out the details of my admissions and scholarships at State. Surprisingly, my grades and test scores were good enough that academic scholarships had covered a lot of what financial need didn’t pick up, but the track team had still picked up a considerable amount, including my room and board. I hadn’t even realized until I had picked up my cap and gown on Monday, but I was graduating with honors today. 

I clicked on the new text message. **_I’ll be at the ceremony today. I know things are hard, but remember that you only graduate from high school once._**

As I went to set the phone down, he sent a second message. **_You’ve done amazing, Dimitri. You should be proud of your accomplishments._**

“It’s meaningless without Rose,” I said to myself, scowling at my phone. I texted back: **_Are you any closer to getting through to Rose?_**

I didn’t get another reply, so I put my suit coat on and my phone in my pocket, then exited my room. The whole family, except for Viktoria, was standing in the entryway, wearing their Sunday best and waiting for me.

“Are you ready, Dimka?” Mama asked. 

I nodded and asked, “Where’s Vika?”

Over the past week, Viktoria and Ivan had been working towards becoming a couple. I felt awkward in the middle and Ivan wasn’t sure what to tell me, since he had always been one to kiss and tell when it came to what he shared with his best friend, but they both seemed happy. Many nights, I’d see Vika texting away back and forth with Ivan on her cell phone, and many days at school, I’d see Ivan pulling out a picture of Vika or biting his tongue as he began to talk about her.

“She said that she had some errands to run,” said Mama, “something about a special graduation surprise. She said she’d meet us there. She assured me that she is with Ivan Zeklos and he wouldn’t miss his own graduation, so she was sure they’d be on time.”

I shuddered, thinking that it was probably another personal thing between her and Ivan. If she had a special graduation surprise for him, I didn’t want to know about it.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

The drive to the graduation ceremony was to happen in a caravan, since the seven of us couldn’t all fit in one car. I was planning to ride in Mama’s car with Mama and Babushka when I got a cryptic text from Ivan telling me to drive separately. He wouldn’t go into any further detail, but he’d never intentionally steered me wrong before, so I did as he asked and drove my own car by myself.

When I arrived in the parking lot, I saw Mason Ashford’s car there, recognizable by all of the State University stickers on the windows. I smiled a weak smile, knowing that he would be in my corner as I tried to find a way to win Rose back, and walked over to the area where the graduates were supposed to gather before the ceremony. 

Just as I was about to duck into the graduate-only area, my mama stopped me in my tracks. “Dimka,” she called, “Come here and let us take some pictures of you!”

I turned, glancing at the clock on the wall. I had ten minutes. Going over to Mama and Babushka, Mama grabbed me in a tight hug and pulled my face down to give me a giant kiss on the cheek.

“Dimka,” Mama said, “You wouldn’t believe how proud I am of you for how well you have done! You are an amazing boy and I never could’ve dreamed you would be standing here today like this, graduating with honors, with a full-ride scholarship!”

“Thank you, Mama,” I told her, returning her embrace, “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Mama smiled and Babushka, with a knowing grin, said, “Today is the day, Dimka. You’ll see.”

“See what?” I asked her. _Why all the cryptic nonsense, Babushka? Are you senile or seein’-all?_

Babushka kissed one of my cheeks and patted the other as she said, “That she will come back.”

I frowned and looked at her. Definitely senile.

I put an arm around both of them as Sonya took some pictures, then Mama took the camera from her and I took a few more pictures with each of my sisters that was present. 

I sighed. Still no sign of Viktoria and Ivan.

“Mama,” I said, looking at my watch, “I have to get backstage in the next five minutes.”

Mama looked so sad that I had to try to do what she had asked. “Dimitri, can you wait two more minutes? Please? For me?”

I nodded and stood waiting with my family. Just as I was getting ready to turn and walk away, Viktoria and Ivan came running up.

“One more picture with you and Vika, then another one with Ivan!” Mama cried.

We quickly got in position and snapped the two more pictures. “Now, really, Mama,” I told her, “I have to go now.”

“Okay, Dimka,” Mama said, dragging my face down to her level and then giving me a kiss on each of my cheeks and my forehead, “I am so proud of you, my boy. I love you so much!”

“I love you, too, Mama,” I said, as I hauled Ivan away with me. 

I smiled for a moment, then realized that ‘I love you’ were words I would never hear from Rose again. I ached.

As we were making our way to the double doors where the graduates were to meet, I saw Mason Ashford out of the corner of my eye, standing with a willowy platinum blonde and a shorter, curvy woman with dark, flowing almost-black curly hair. Both women had their backs to me where I was standing, but if I hadn’t known better, I would’ve sworn that they were Rose and Lissa.

“Is that …?” I asked out loud, stopping to stare.

Ivan turned and grabbed my arm, pulling me along as I had to him a few minutes ago. “C’mon, Dimitri. I think you’re seeing things.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I sat in my seat waiting for my name to be called. The seats we had to sit in were the most uncomfortable seats I had ever sat in for a long period of time, which is really saying something, considering I was used to sitting in a high school desk for six hours a day. Unfortunately, they didn’t pick any sort of conventional order, such as alphabetical, to the way we were being called. Instead, we were called in the order we seated ourselves, each student handing their names in a stack to the announcer as we found our seats walking in. Since we were so late walking in, Ivan and I were going to be the last to be called. Jill sat two rows before me and she was next to be called. Ivan would be called right before I was, making me the absolute last graduate that would be on stage.

“Jillian Mastrano,” the announcer said. I heard cheers from three sections of the arena and turned to look. In one section was a couple who appeared to be Jill’s mother and step-father. In another, I saw a man, his wife, and a blonde boy I recognized as Andre something-or-other who had graduated from the basketball team a few years ago. With a start, I realized that this was Lissa’s family and Andre must’ve been Lissa’s younger brother.

In the third section, I saw Lissa, Christian, a black-haired girl who must’ve been Christian’s niece, Mason Ashford, and … Rose? 

My breath caught in my throat as I stared at her in awe. It was definitely Rose, and she was every bit the woman I had fallen in love with as the day she set foot on Randall’s doorstep. She was breathtaking.

She appeared to have lost weight. The look in her eyes was almost forlorn. There were dark circles under her eyes. No amount of weariness could dull her radiant beauty, but it made my heart ache even more to see her like this.

I kept staring at Rose as the announcer continued to call out names from the audience, willing her to look - or not to look; I really wasn’t sure - in my direction. I had wanted to see her. I had wanted her to see me. But at the same time, I didn’t think I could survive seeing the look of disdain - of pure and utter hatred - in her eyes that she had given me the last time I had seen her. If I never saw that look again, it would be too soon. 

And yet, if she never looked at me again, we could never reconcile. After continuing to stare for long moments without her looking back, I took a deep breath and I looked away.

A few minutes later, I heard Ivan’s name called. I could hear Rose’s voice gasp as she heard it; probably learning for the first time that my best friend was related to her deceitful ex-boyfriend. I shook my head and frowned, furrowing my brow. She would never trust me again.

“Dimitri Belikov,” the announcer called. To my startled amazement, I heard three sets of cheers again. I looked around the room. Rose was … cheering for me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you look out there, I put a preview for this chapter on Facebook (page on profile). I’ll be putting a preview out there for chapter 29 soon.  
It has been nearly twenty years since I graduated from high school or college and when I did, it was in a university basketball arena with a stage in it both times, so my experience might differ slightly from the norm, both in this chapter or in the next Dimitri chapter. If I’ve strayed too far off the path, let me know.


	29. Rose-Colored Glasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy   
Still not sexy times again, but we’re getting closer, folks!  
Thanks again to RozamarieH and TheTrebledMom for beta-reading this chapter.

**Rose POV:**

After coming home and scrubbing myself down in a boiling shower until I almost bled, I immediately called Christian. As soon as he picked up, I yelled into the phone, “You knew! You lying piece of shit, Christian! You. Knew! And you didn’t tell me!”

“Rose, it’s not like that,” he began, “But you know how wary I was of you going out with him when I first saw you two together. I told him he had to tell you and he said he would. You told me that _what you do on a date with a guy or who you go out with is none of my business_.’”

“But you could’ve at least let me know _who _I was going out with. And why the _hell _did you tell me Dimitri was in your class?” I asked, “That asshole is in high school!”

“He _is _in my class,” Christian defended, “And in high school. He’s in a dual enrollment program because of advanced placement. He’s one of the most gifted high schoolers I’ve ever seen. He’s always seemed very smart and responsible.”

“More like cunning and calculating. And he’s still a kid! He’s practically a baby compared to me!” 

Christian countered, “It’s not like it’s a huge age difference, Rose. Lissa and I are eight years apart.”

I was getting pissed again. “For fuck’s sake, Christian, eight years younger than _me _is still not eighteen yet, and for all I know he’s even younger than that! He’s just a teenage boy who just went out with an older girl to try to get in her pants.”

“He promised me he would be honorable with you and not take advantage. I made him promise that he wouldn’t even start to get physical with you until he went out with you at least three times!”

“You made him … _promise_?!?” I shrieked into the phone, “WHAT. THE. FUCK! Christian, I don’t even want to speak with you anymore!”

I hit the end button and turned off my phone.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I was hurt. 

If I was honest, I was in agony.

I’d spent the last few days - at least the part that was uninterrupted - crying into my carton of ice cream with a tissue box watching sappy romantic tear-jerker movies. I thought that they’d be cathartic, but they just made me hurt more.

It was all because of Dimitri Belikov. I wish I’d never met him. And none of my friends would let me forget him. Lissa kept telling me I needed to at least give Dimitri a chance to tell his side of the story and insisting that she’d never seen me happier than when I was with him. Christian kept trying to call. I’d even had a few furtive texts from Dimitri that second night before I blocked his number to keep them from coming through.

With Jesse, I had given my innocence years ago to a man who had thought of me as nothing but a conquest - even if he found me to be an amazing one -, but he had slowly worked his way in under my defences for months before I gave in to him, and then shown me his true colors little by little after that. Although I had hated to admit it to myself, I knew, even before Jesse cheated, that he had never been the man for me. Then, when he showed me how much the commitment he’d made to me - the one he made when he took my virginity - had _really _meant to him, he’d shown me that he truly wasn’t.

Then Dimitri had come along. Everything - and I mean _everything _\- about him had screamed that he was the perfect man for me. The dutiful way he cared for his family and shouldered their responsibilities, the way he worked through things like moving strangers’ furniture without giving a thought to himself, the way he opened up to me alone, the way he didn’t even seem to know how to have fun until I showed him how. His body and face had the beauty - because, let’s face it, you don’t usually use that word for a man, but there just isn’t another word strong enough - of a work of art.

And now I was left wondering if it had all been an act - an elaborate lie crafted to be exactly what I needed. I even had to wonder if he was lying about having access to social media or any of those other things. I had always assumed that the reason he had never talked about his job was because it just wasn’t something he really invested a lot of himself in, but now I had to wonder if the reason he never talked about it was because he had been lying about working.

It was so hard to know what he had lied about. The crappy car couldn’t be faked, of course - especially since he had it on the night we had met. The fact that he had a car at all meant that he wasn’t really at the poverty level, though. With a car like that, he obviously didn’t have access to a whole lot of money, but that could have been even more motivation to try to get in close with the girl whose father had the money to buy her a new car and pay for a three-bedroom house for her and her roommate for the summer just so that they could be closer to the beach.

Was he also after me for my money? I honestly didn’t even want it. I didn’t even have money until Abe - ugh, I mean ‘Dad’ - came into my life a few years ago. And up until Sunday night, I would’ve pretty much decided Dimitri could have my money, for all I cared. All of it.

Agh, this was infuriating! How would I know what was real and what wasn’t?

All I knew was he lied to me. I felt like there was no way that he could’ve found me anything more than a conquest. So many guys in my life had been interested in only my body. Granted, with Dimitri, the feeling was mutual at first, but he didn’t stay that way for me.

I had given him my whole heart. I was completely in love with him. I knew I hadn’t known him long, but Dimitri was my whole world in the short time we were together. I felt so much stronger about him than I had with Jesse. And even if it was just lust at first, by the time that Sunday had rolled around, I gave him my body willingly as a sign that I was willing to give my heart, and not just as a way of providing each other a - very sensual - quid pro quo that I might have initially envisioned.

No, this was different. Dimitri had weaseled his slimy way into my heart like Jesse never had, not just into my pants. I was in love - _in love_ \- because of a man’s - make that _boy’s _\- creative deception and there was absolutely no way he felt it back. The only thing I knew for sure is that his feelings for me were anything but real. He had used me to get what he wanted in a way that Jesse never had.

Maybe one of the worst parts in all of this was just my staggering need for him. Even knowing what I did and feeling what I felt, my traitorous body still wanted him. _Ached _for him. I would lay in bed at night with my whole body just thrumming from thoughts of Dimitri that wouldn’t go away. Thoughts of his hands, mouth, and cock bringing my body to new depths of pleasure I’d never been before. Every night, I would lay there yearning for a satisfaction that never came. Nothing could replace his touch, his kiss, the feel of his body holding me close, moving inside me. No amount of using Mister Shaggins or my fingers could quell my desire for him.

And no amount of desire alone could make me cave and go running back to the high school _boy _who had conspired with his pervert friend to use me, and had broken my heart in the process, to rid himself of his virginity.

So why did I have to keep reminding myself of that?

_Worse still? I still love him; _present _tense_. I knew it, to the core of my soul. Even with what he had done, even though he was a minor and far too young for this to be an appropriate relationship, Dimitri Belikov had my heart.

I kept mulling over it all, replaying every moment in my mind. How much was a lie and how much was the truth? Why couldn’t he just have been _older _\- and completely honest with me?

I sat there thinking, letting the tears flow freely, when my cell phone rang. 

I looked at the caller ID. JIll. I’d been avoiding it, but this girl needed a talking-to from me. 

She knew about Dimitri; _knew _I had been dating him. She knew that he wasn’t what I thought he was.

I pushed the answer button and moved the phone up to my ear.

“Jill, you better have a good explanation for this,” I told her. I hadn’t realized until that moment just how hoarse my voice was from all the crying.

In a meek little half-defeated-sounding voice, Jill told me, “You sound as bad as him.”

For some reason that I didn’t understand, her words made my heart ache even more. “Good,” I told her, trying to put my patented Rose Hathaway - er, Mazur - bravado into it.

“What happened with you two?” she asked. Okay, _that _pissed me off!

“What the fuck do you mean, ‘What happened with you two’?” I asked, incredulous, “You knew how old he is! You had to! You’ve known this whole time! And you still let me go out with him when you found out, you deceitful bitch!”

Jill gasped and I could hear little sobs in the background of the call. I felt worse than I expected for hurting her. Sweet, innocent little Jill had been like a baby sister to me ever since Lissa and I had found out she was her half-sister. And she was the kind of person that would never try to hurt anyone.

I took a deep breath and tried again. “Jill … Please … I’m sorry. But you knew, didn’t you? That Dimitri is still in high school.”

I heard the phone moving and her sobs, but nothing else. I heard someone female in the background, probably Jill’s mom, say, “She can’t hear you nod your head, you know?”

“Yes,” Jill breathed.

“Jill, why wouldn’t you tell me? Why would you let me go out with a … a _kid _… without saying anything to me? How could you let him lie to me,” and use me, “like that?”

“Because he’s not a kid, Rose. I mean, Dimitri’s eighteen; I was there at his birthday party. I knew you didn’t know, but I thought he should be the one to tell you. And he told me he would! I even have a text message from him saying it. I can screenshot it and send it to you after we’re done here if you don’t believe me.”

“Why did you believe him? And how could you let him use me like that, Jill?”

“Rose, Dimitri is a good guy. I don’t think he used you.”

“Really?” I asked her, “And why should I believe that?” I knew she couldn’t see me, but I was once again jealous of those who could arch an eyebrow, because I felt like it was warranted here.

“Really,” Jill said, “You know by now that he’s the guy I was going out with last fall, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Do you know what happened? Or why we broke up?” she asked.

“No,” I said, scowling, “Why should that matter?”

“One of the other guys on the basketball team, this guy Dane, was being a jerk and wouldn’t leave me alone. He kept trying to get me to go out with him and making all of these really crude, perverted suggestions. Dimitri came up to my locker in the hallway and stood between me and Brett, asking me to be his girlfriend. I knew Dimitri had seen the whole thing happen and only asked to try to be nice, but I agreed with Dimitri because he was so sweet - and so freaking gorgeous - that there was just no way I could say ‘no’. He was the perfect gentleman the whole time we were dating and _never even tried to kiss me_, Rose! And he spent so much time at work, at basketball, with his family, or at his dad’s house that I barely saw him outside of school. After like three weeks of ‘going out’ - without actually _going out _\- and holding my hand in the hallway every day, Dimitri broke it off. He told me that he really liked me as a friend but he didn’t think that either of us was really into it, that he couldn’t really afford to take me anywhere or anything, and that I deserved someone who really cared for me and could treat me right.”

I sighed. I sat in silence for a moment, thinking through what she had just told me. This whole story sounded like the Dimitri I had _thought _I had gotten to know - the sweet, thoughtful, giant teddy bear of a guy who respected women, stood up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves, and put others’ needs before his own. How much of that was a lie?

“Rose?” Jill asked, “Are you still there?”

“Yeah,” I told her, more solemnly than I had responded a minute ago.

“He told me - sort of - that he loved you. He was crying. He didn’t mean to tell me and I don’t even think he realized he said it,” Jill said.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Just … send me that screenshot,” I told her.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

A few minutes after I had hung up with Jill a few days ago, the screenshot was in my hands. Sure enough, Jill was telling me the truth. Not that it made me feel any better that she was keeping it from me - or that anyone was - but at least she had a good reason.

He had told her, “I’d like to be the one to tell her, but I just haven’t found a good time to do it yet.” 

Why did he lie like that? He was never going to tell me.

Now, here I sat, staring at Jill’s screenshot on my phone.

My phone rang again, breaking me out of my thoughts. I glanced at the caller ID. 

With a slight laugh, I answered the phone, “Mia Rinaldi, you bitch! It’s been - what - two, three years now? Since Mason’s wedding - right? Why’d you wait so long to call me? And how are you?”

“Rose, it’s good to talk to you, too! I’ve actually been meaning to call for a while now, but … well life kinda got away from me,” I could almost hear the shrugged shoulders in her voice as she said it. “I’m doing okay, but I called about _you _today.”

“Me?” I asked, “What about me?”

“You remember Sonja Belikova?” Mia asked.

I was curious why Mia would be asking me this. Or what it had to do with me. “Sonja Belikova? I haven’t talked to her since that party in high school where I pulled Rolan Kislyak off of her. I remember I used all of my self-defense training on him and he still was back to harassing girls the next day!”Mia continued, “I know. I don’t think any of us really saw her out in social situations again after that night, but Sonja and I were lab partners in Bio class our senior year, so we kept in touch for a little while. She always felt like she kind of owed you for that. She asked me if I could get in contact with you to help her pay you back.”

“Pay me back?” I asked skeptically, “What’s this all about?”

“Your number was in my old phone, so it took me a while to find it. She contacted me a few weeks ago and said that she came across something that belonged to you. She said she wanted to make sure you got it.”

“And what exactly was it of mine that she came across?”

Mia replied, “She didn’t say, but she sent it to me in an envelope and asked me if I could make sure you got it. If you tell me where to send it, I’ll drop it in the mail tomorrow.”

“Okay,” I told Mia, “I’m staying in a rental house with Lissa right now. I’ll text you the address after we get off the line.”

Mia replied, “Okay. Oh, and by the way, a few years ago, Sonja said that her baby brother is this badass who kicked Rolan’s ass when he caught Rolan trying to take advantage of her younger sister, Viktoria. She said he taught him a lesson once and for all. Nearly broke his nose and Rolan hasn’t bothered another girl since.”

It was then that I recalled Dimitri’s words: “... _I still fought my sister Viktoria’s date when I caught him trying to take advantage of her a few years ago. I almost broke his nose._”

Wait. Belikova - Belikov? It couldn’t be; could it?

It almost seemed too big of a coincidence, especially since she had those same deep brown eyes.

I decided to let it go and settled in for a long phone call with my old friend.

Wanting to take my mind off of Dimitri, I asked Mia, “So, what else is up with you, Mia? Tell me about the exciting world of fashion.”

“I’d hardly call working as a sales person in a clothing store ‘the exciting world of fashion’,” she told me, “but it has been fun.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

I sat with the letter from Sonja in one hand and the letter from Dimitri in the other. 

Sonja’s letter, marked “Read me first” on the outside, had said:

** _Dear Rose,_ **

** _I owe you a debt that I could never fully repay because of your pulling Rolan off from me that night, but I would like to start to try to repay it now. My baby brother Dimitri has been head-over-heels in love with a girl for weeks now. I overheard him telling his best friend one night that the girl named Rose that he had been seeing had gone out with Jesse Zeklos. I knew in an instant that there was only one girl named Rose that dated Jesse that he could’ve been talking about, especially when he described her “beautiful dark hair”._ **

** _Dimitri is a good kid, but he can be a real chucklehead at times. I found this letter wadded up on the floor outside of his room a few nights ago. I’d bet good money that he still chickened out and hasn’t told you the truth, so I thought I’d let you see it, in his own words. He tried to tell you once and you deserve to know._ **

** _Sincerely,_ **

** _Sonja Belikova_ **

Mia - who had grown to become a close friend I had learned to trust - had told me that Sonja had wanted to give this to me _weeks _ago. Weeks ago. Before I had seen Dimitri’s school ID card.

He was going to tell me. He had tried.

And then he had chickened out.

Or - worse - this whole thing is a very elaborate fake, and Mia is in on it, too.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

It was late Saturday afternoon and there was no way I was going to be back at Lissa’s. After listening to Lissa and Christian nagging me to give Dimitri another chance for almost an entire week, I had finally picked up a bag of my stuff and headed to stay at my parents’ house for a few days.

I took a deep breath and pressed the call button on my phone to talk to Adrian.

“Hello, little hooligan,” Adrian said, answering the phone.

I decided to start with the thing I wanted to know most, “Adrian, You have five minutes. FIVE. MINUTES. And if I don’t like what I hear, I’m never talking to you again. _Why_ did you lie to me about Dimitri’s age?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, little hooligan,” he said. _I _knew _Adrian would try to downplay this! _“Who says I lied?”

“Adrian, you told me Dimitri was twenty,” I said, getting more angry by the second, so tired of being lied to.

“_No_,” he said, the epitome of casual self-assuredness, “I _asked _him if he was twenty, while you were standing there. The rest is all just your mind making assumptions, Rose.”

I was fuming. If I was a cartoon character, there would’ve been little spouts of steam coming from each of my ears. “_Adrian_!!!” I practically growled, through the phone.

I heard Adrian take a deep breath and then he started over again. “Look, I’m sorry, Rose. I shouldn’t have done that. Dimka’s a good guy. He promised me he would tell you.”

“What made you think he was ever going to tell me?” I asked, almost resigning myself to the idea that everyone had just taken him on faith that he would tell me, even though I still doubt he ever would have.

“I gave him one chance to tell you and I told him if he hadn’t told you, I would. He asked for two months.”

“Adrian!” I nearly shrieked into the phone, “A lot can happen in two months!”

“I never told him I’d give him that long. That’s just what he asked for,” he replied, “I probably would’ve told you in the next week or so.”

“Uh-huh,” I told him, making it clear in my tone that I didn’t believe him.

“Little hooligan,” Adrian said, “Have I ever lied to you?” 

I frowned, telling him, “Deception by omission is still a lie, Adrian. I want proof.”

“I’m sorry, Rose,” he said, finally sounding contrite, “I can see this really bothered you. I’ll send you a picture of my text messages with him as soon as we get off of the phone. And I won’t lie to you again.”  
“And no more talk about Dimitri,” I told him, firmly, “I don’t want to hear about him ever again.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

Less than five minutes after I hung up with Adrian, Mason had texted me to talk about Dimitri. It was starting to feel like everyone in my life was on Dimitri’s side in this, and that was just making me even more angry and frustrated. I sent Dimitri a quick text, irritated that he seemed to know everyone I was close to and that they all wanted me to run back to him, then I blocked his number again before he could do his own talking to try to weasel his way back into my life.

It took me several hours to reply to Mason.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

“Is Rose home?” a heavily-accented feminine voice had asked from my parents’ doorway, just after dinner, “Lissa told us we could find her here.” 

After the phone call with Adrian this afternoon and the texts with Mason later on, the last thing I wanted was to talk with anyone else.

“Yes. Why don’t you both come in and I’ll go get her,” Janine - Mom - had told her, “May I ask your names?”

A chill ran up my spine as I heard the girl say, “I’m Viktoria Belikova, but you can call me Vika.”

Another, deeper voice, had said, “Ivan.”

My mother, in her shrewdness, had picked up on the fact that Ivan hadn’t provided a last name. As if she didn’t trust him, she asked, “Do you have a last name, Ivan?”

Ivan cleared his throat and said, “It’s Zeklos, ma’am, but please don’t hold that against me.”

“Well, you’re certainly more polite than the last Zeklos boy who darkened my doorstep, but don’t start thinking that means I trust you,” she said, “I’ll go get Rose now. Why don’t you both sit in here?”

When she approached me, I whisper-hissed to her, “I heard. I don’t want to talk to them.”

“What’s this about?” she asked me.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I repeated for the thousandth time in the past week.

“They appear to have a gift for you, Rose, so the least you could do is accept it before turning them away,” Janine had said, “They’re in the living room.”

When it came to gifts, I was usually a lot less selfish than the average girl whose parents lived in a 12-room house, but it did seem rude to turn away someone who had come with a peace offering. “Fine,” I huffed.

When I walked in the room, the family resemblance to both Jesse, for Ivan, and Sonja, for Viktoria, was immediately clear. I couldn’t help but part my lips in surprise. I wondered if Ivan was half as arrogant or womanizing as Jesse.

“Hello,” I said, not sure what this was for. One thing was for certain, though, this was about Dimitri. No matter what, there really seemed to be no way of getting away from him.

After a few introductions, Viktoria said, “We’re here to talk to you about Dimitri Belikov.”

“Why would I want to talk about Dimitri?” I asked, giving them both a piercing look.

Viktoria said, “I think he is in love with you. Lying to you about his age was the stupidest decision my brother ever made and he regrets it.”

Handing me the gift in her arms, she added, “Dimitri had talked about you at home a lot. He told us how much you loved Mama’s black bread. My mama, who never shares her black bread recipe with anyone, gave it to me and told me to give it to you, because she believes that he loves you. She already welcomes you as a member of our family.”

“And why are _you _here?” I asked Ivan, turning to give him a look that could kill. Ivan looked similar enough to Jesse that it became even easier to believe that Dimitri - Ivan’s _best _friend - could be _just like_ Jesse, a womanizing user who lied and took advantage of everyone around him.

A shimmer that I could’ve sworn was a tear threatening to fall was in Ivan’s eye as he said, “Because Dimitri is my best friend. He’s like a brother to me. He is absolutely _broken _without you, Rose. He has barely eaten or slept in days. He won’t talk to anyone. All he cares about is you, and you are gone. I can’t leave him like this.”

“And I’m broken, too; I’m the one he lied to,” I retorted, “What do you expect me to do about it?”

Ivan replied, “Dimitri graduates from St. Vladimir’s next weekend. My guess is that you might be there at the graduation ceremony for Jill, anyways. Give us half an hour of your time this evening. If we can convince you, cheer for Dimitri at the ceremony to show him that you’re willing to give it another try. One of us will even come get you to bring you there, if you want. If you’re not convinced by then, we’ll leave when the half hour is through and we won’t bother you again. Cheering for him doesn’t have to mean that you’ll take him back right away, just that you’ll at least give him the chance to tell his side of things. He deserves a chance to explain himself. The rest is up to you.”

“And either way, Mama wants you to keep the bread recipe. She made a loaf that is in there for you, too.”

I pulled out my phone and set a time for thirty minutes, showed it to them both, and said, “Start talking.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you look out there, I put a preview for this chapter on Facebook (page on profile) earlier this week. Keep an eye out there for a preview of the next chapter and an idea of when it will go out. For the first time in several months, I don't have the next chapter already completely written as I'm publishing this one, so the schedule might vary a little.  
I hope you all caught some of the more subtle references to the previous conversations in there. You might even catch a phrase or two that OTHER people have said (after Rose said it first) in the previous few chapters.


	30. Return to You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy  
There may be some mature sexual content ahead  
There is a big chunk of Russian in the last section of this chapter. I put the translation immediately following the text.  
No one has edited this chapter but me, so please forgive any typos, missed words, ill-conceived ideas, or spelling and grammatical mistakes.

As I sat back down with my ‘diploma’ - because, of course, they hadn’t given us real ones on the day of the commencement ceremony - I moved in wide-eyed stunned silence, not able to do anything other than watch where I was going. 

Whatever had happened, _Rose _had been there at my graduation and had cheered for _me_. 

Up was down and down was up.

She still hadn’t met my eyes when I looked at her before my name was called, but she had cheered for me. After she had, I was too afraid to look her in the eyes. As the last long, boring speech from the principal began, Ivan leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Vika and I were late because we were bringing Rose here. She came for you.”

I looked at Ivan. “What does this mean? Does this mean she forgives me?” I asked.

Ivan looked back. “Not completely, but she is willing to hear you out.” 

I couldn’t hold back the words as I said, “I need to get her back. I love her, man.”

A few seconds later, as the principal droned on some meaningless drivel about ‘life in the real world’ (wasn’t that already where we were?), I asked Ivan simply, “How?”

Ivan was too engrossed in the speech to pay attention to me, so I elbowed him in the ribs after finally taking another look at Rose, whose inquisitive gaze was now practically boring into me. “What?” Ivan asked, shooting me an irritated look.

“How is she willing to listen? And how did you get her to come _here_?”

“It wasn’t easy,” Ivan admitted, “She _really _didn’t trust me - or even like me, for that matter. I think it at least partially had to do with Jesse. I had to tell her about what happened to me at camp in fourth grade.”

I racked my brain. _Camp in fourth grade … camp in fourth grade …_ “You can’t mean …?” I asked. Ivan had wet the bed and afterwards, a small group of us had then woken to find him still asleep, clutching a hand-sewn rag doll in a dress and sucking his thumb. He had sworn me to secrecy afterwards.

“Right down to the thumb-sucking,” he admitted, scowling at me.

“Why would you tell her that?” I asked.

“Rose gave us thirty minutes to convince her. With your mom’s blessing, we gave her your mom’s black bread recipe and then both pleaded your case, explaining how you felt about her and how you were afraid that you’d lose her because of the age difference, but how you hadn’t meant to keep it a secret from her. After we had talked to her and the time was up, Vika and I both had to share our most embarrassing secret to prove that she could trust us. She told us that she would use the secrets against us if we were lying to her.”

“You did that for me?” I asked him, “What did Viktoria say?”

“We both did, but what Viktoria said isn’t my story to tell, Dimka,” he said, “And Rose also made us each tell her _your _most embarrassing secret that we knew.”

I shuddered. “The baby wipe?” I asked. Ivan gave a curt nod. For a brief period of time while my niece was little, my sister had tried to be environmentally friendly by using washable diapers and wipes. One day my junior year, one of the wipes had lingered in the dryer and stuck with static to the back of my sweater from my school uniform. I walked around school all day with a _baby wipe_ stuck to my back and people laughing everywhere I went.

Ivan added, “And Vika told a story about how you sat in mud and everyone thought you shit your pants.”

“Randall was visiting us in Russia. He wouldn’t let me leave to go change. And it wasn’t mud; it was a pan of chocolate cake batter,” I muttered.

A few more minutes of speech went by with more nonsense about how our choices for what to do after high school mattered more than whatever we did in high school. 

“... Even if you’re no longer _stuck _with what you do after high school for the rest of your life, like many in my generation were, your choices today will matter to you for the rest of your lives …”

Yes, my choices today _will _matter for the rest of my life. Because I’ll be talking to _Roza_ today.

I leaned in to Ivan and said, “Did Mama know?”

“Yes and no,” said Ivan, “She knew we were trying to convince Rose to forgive you, but she didn’t know Rose would be here today. We asked you to drive by yourself because Rose will need a ride home, and because we figured you two would need time to talk. Vika was supposed to tell Olena as soon as you and I left them.”

“I’ll be alone in a car with Rose?” I asked. Excitement and terror warred within me at the thought. 

Ivan nodded, then held a fisted hand out to me. “I have faith in you, young grasshopper. Take these, and hopefully you’ll need them.”

I opened my hand under his and he dropped some packets of something into it. I looked down. More condoms. Ivan bumped my arm.

I stared at him incredulously. “Ivan, where did these come from? Do you just pull these things out of your ears or something?”

He grinned at me. “I keep them handy when I know they’ll be needed. I have a feel for this sort of thing.”

A few more minutes ticked by and Ivan said, “Oh, and your grandmother told me on the way in to tell you, ‘One day, Dimka, this beautiful flower you receive today will become a part of our family’. Whatever that means.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

The moment that the procession of graduates had fully exited the area to chorus after chorus of _Pomp and Circumstance_, I bolted back in, to where Rose had been seated, taking the stairs two at a time to get to her. At that moment, all that mattered was Rose.

I arrived in front of her, out of breath. The others she had been sitting with had all left, but Rose was still sitting in the same seat, feet propped up on the seat in front of her own. She was wearing a strapless and flowy red sundress that looked beautiful against her flawless tanned skin, her silky dark hair flowing loose around her bare shoulders. Her posture in the seat belied the anxious tension between the two of us, making her look lazy and confident in a way that just screamed ‘Rose’ like nothing else.

Without missing a beat, she stood and said, “Took you long enough.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me,” I told her honestly.

Rose cracked a grin at that and replied, “I wasn’t sure I would, either.” With a shrug, she added, “But here I am.”

Nervousness filled me at her response. “You are,” I replied. I wanted so badly to put my arms around her and pull her close, but I knew she’d never allow that.

“So, talk,” Rose said, crossing her arms expectantly.

I took a deep breath before plunging in. I had dreamt of the chance to speak to her, but I honestly had no idea what to say. After all this time of feeling like I had lost her, I hadn’t found _anything _I could say that I had dreamed could win her back. I wanted to slap myself for not thinking harder about it - or slap Ivan and Viktoria for not preparing me more. I _needed _to buy myself some time. And get Rose somewhere where she was a captive audience. “Ivan said you would need me to give you a ride home. Could we go somewhere quiet where we can talk?” Alone.

Rose looked reluctant, darting her eyes around to see who was still left in the area. “I don’t know.” 

In that moment, all my hopes that had been rising a few moments ago began to die again. I felt as though the wind was knocked out of me. I couldn’t help but sink to my knees on the ground in front of her, taking her hand as I felt a tear trickle from my eye. “Please, Rose,” I told her, “I’m not a child. I’m eighteen. And I’m in love with you with everything that I am. I’m nothing without you. I will do _anything _to make this right with you. What would it take to get you to give me another chance?”

Rose furrowed her brow above her beautiful dark eyes and exhaled a deep breath. “Why, Dimitri?” she asked, “Just tell me; _why _would you lie to me like that?”

“Could I please ask that you don’t interrupt for what I’m about to say?” I asked, begging her and searching her eyes. Rose gave a weary sigh and then nodded.

Looking in her eyes, I said, ”Roza, from the moment I saw you, there was no one else. I had never wanted anyone like you. And after I knew you, I had never _loved _anyone like you. When we met, you just assumed that I was older before I had a chance to tell you otherwise. I never told you how old I was; I just didn’t correct you when you said otherwise. I knew I needed a chance with you. I knew I wouldn't get that chance if you knew the truth. Rose, would you really have gone out with me - or even given me a second glance - if I had told you from the beginning that I was only eighteen _and_ still in high school?”

Rose frowned. “Yes … No … I don’t know.”

I was still on my knees in front of her. I felt the vulnerability of that position in every word I said, but I needed her to know that I was telling her the truth and that I hadn’t intended to hurt her or trick her. “Roza, I didn’t plan anything. And I certainly wasn’t trying to trick you. I swung for the stars with you. You were the girl of my dreams; everything I ever wanted. When you told me you thought I was in college, I saw it as the chance - my _only _chance - to actually get to know you. But I didn’t do it just to get ‘an easy lay’ or to take advantage of your vulnerabilities. I still wonder if that was the _only _way that a guy like me could have had a girl like you. Do I regret that I lied to you? _Of course I do!_ I know I made a mistake by not telling you. If I could do it over again, there are a hundred different times when I could have - _should _have - told you and didn’t. But I can’t. I even tried to tell you a couple of times, but in the end, I always chickened out. I’m so, so sorry that I didn’t tell you the truth. You deserved the truth. You deserve it now. Can you please, please forgive me?” I squeezed her hand, searching her eyes for the answer I hoped to hear.

“Did you lie about or hide anything else?” she asked, “Now’s your chance; come clean and tell me the truth about everything. No more lies, from this moment forward. At all.”

“I won’t lie to you again. About anything. At all.” At that, Rose showed me her beautiful smile again and squeezed my hand in return. I looked at her and couldn’t help but smile in return. 

But then, that inquisitive gaze was on me again. “Did you? And deception by omission is still a lie,” she said, pinning me with her eyes. She needed to know if I had told her the truth, in full, about everything else.

I searched my mind, thinking it through. “Are you sure you want to know _everything_? Even the harmless stuff that has nothing to do with anything we’d even talked about?” Rose nodded.

“I made a promise to Christian that I wouldn’t touch you until we’d gone out at least three times,” I said, “he asked me to do it to make sure you were ready, but after that first night was over, I still thought it was the right thing to do - even though I probably would’ve gone ahead and tried to touch you sooner if my body had anything to say about it. Maybe his reasoning wasn’t entirely right, but I think he had the right idea. I meant what I said about wanting to impress you first, Rose. I didn’t just want you for one time. I wanted you for all time.” 

“Uh-huh,” said Rose, “I knew about that promise. What else?”

I took one hand and scratched the back of my neck as I said, “Well, I kind of figured out that your last name had been Hathaway the night after we had spent that first afternoon together.”

“How did you know?” she asked.

“Well, partially because I had heard rumors about you for years after my sisters were in high school. Your actual story fit the stories I had heard about you. Right down to knowing you had gone out with Jesse Zeklos. Ivan’s his cousin, you know? I had met him a few times. I always thought he was a _mudak_, though. And well, that part about Jesse gets to the third - and last - thing I have to tell you the truth about.”

I winced, knowing this wouldn’t work in my favor, but that I had to tell her. “The night I made you dinner wasn’t the first night I saw you through your bedroom window.”

Rose looked puzzled. “I’m not sure I follow. Comrade.” 

I was reassured to hear that familiar nickname from her, but I knew I had to press on - and that I might not feel that way in a few moments. “You were … enjoying yourself. After you were finished, you put Jesse’s St. Vladimir’s t-shirt on.”

Rose’s face appeared to actually redden in front of me. I had never really seen her blush and it was breathtaking. She was always beautiful, but especially in that moment. _Almost as beautiful as she was when she was climaxing around my body._ At that stray thought, I breathed deeply for control.

Rose asked, “So you saw me touching myself? And you just _watched _me the whole time?”

I nodded, feeling ashamed. “Yes,” I replied, unable to meet her eyes.

“Why didn’t you stop looking when you saw me there? Or let me know?”

I looked at her as if she had just asked me the most obvious question in the world. “Why would I stop eating if I was starving? Roza, I was eighteen and single. On a normal day, I bring myself to orgasm at least three times. I had just seen the most beautiful woman I’d ever met naked on her bed, giving me the perfect view of her taking her own pleasure, showing me _exactly _how to please her, in a way that I hoped I eventually would. Why would I ever want to stop that? Besides, I’d already seen you by that point. If I let you know, it still would’ve been awkward. Probably even more awkward because I was completely erect from the instant I saw you there.”

Rose looked at with an expression I couldn’t place. I had no idea what she was thinking. Suddenly, laughter started to bubble up from her lips. It started small, but after a moment, it was a full-out belly laugh and Rose was almost doubled over, clutching her stomach as she wiped a tear from her eye.

“What?” I asked, scowling.

“That third night, when we were playing Twister, and then again in my car on the way to the family fun center, I had this insane idea that you had lied about how experienced you were, because you seemed to know exactly how to touch my body. Now I know where you learned how to touch me.” I felt my length stiffening at the mere thought of what had happened those two nights.

“So does this mean you forgive me?” I asked.

“Did you lie about anything else? Or hide anything?” Rose asked.

“No,” I answered.

“Are you ever going to hide anything from me again?”

“_Nikogda_. Never,” I replied.

Rose nodded. “Good. Then I guess maybe I could forgive you.”

“So where does that leave us? Do you think you could ever be interested in someone who is seven years younger than you?” I asked, standing before her.

Rose gave me that man-eating smile and said, “That depends. Is this hypothetical ‘someone who is seven years younger than me’ someone who provides for his family at only eighteen, even to the extent of not driving a nice car or not having free time of his own on weekdays, even willing to go live with his abusive dad a couple of days a week to help his mother and older sisters pay for school, someone who is willing to help a stranger move furniture, and who didn’t even know how to play mini golf before we met because he’d never had the opportunity to play before? Someone who made my body feel heights of pleasure it has never felt before - or since?” I nearly grinned at her exciting words, even as she continued. “Someone who will be going to the same college as me in the fall with a full-ride scholarship because he has worked so hard at everything he does? Someone who is the most attractive man I’ve ever seen before? Someone I am completely in love with?”

“I assume you mean me?” I asked in a low voice, not wanting to _completely _get my hopes up again. 

“Yes, dummy! Of course I mean you!” She said, smiling at me and play-hitting my shoulder.

I arched an eyebrow, waiting for her response to my original question. “Then yes! Of course I’m still interested in you, Dimitri!” I cautiously wrapped my arms around her, bringing her close to me. Before I could kiss her, she said, “But no more lies. Ever. Unless it involves frosting or wrapping paper.”

“Not unless it involves frosting or wrapping paper,” I agreed, as I prepared to bring my lips to hers, “Or chocolate donuts, which I hear are your favorite.”

Rose giggled and said, “Or chocolate donuts.” I could feel her soft, warm breath on my lips, her small, toned body pressed up against my own. I leaned in and let our lips touch, gently, not even urging my tongue to be in her mouth, enjoying the feel of her so close to me, tunneling my fingers through the silken strands of her dark hair. Then I felt Rose pressing her tongue to the seam of my lips, urging for more. I groaned, unable to deny her anything when it came to our closeness.

After a few moments, the nagging thought in my head wouldn’t go away. I reluctantly broke the kiss and, still holding her close, asked, “How did you know about the scholarship?”

Rose smiled, “Mason told me. He said that he offered to speak with me on your behalf, if and only if you made an effort to put your life back together and made an effort at the state track meet. He told me how amazing you did at the meet. You did all that for me?”

“I did,” I told her.

“You know,” she said, “if I would’ve known you competed and you hadn’t lied to me about everything, I might’ve been there last weekend, cheering you on.”

“You would?” I asked her.

“I couldn’t very well let my boyfriend completely dominate an athletic competition without showing my support. And I think maybe he deserved a little reward for being the winner afterwards, too.” Rose was giving me a look like she was about to lick me from head to toe. I audibly gulped and she chuckled.

“As long as we’re clearing the air, is there anything _you _need to tell _me_?” I asked her, with my first real smile in weeks.

“A couple things,” she told me, pursing her lips for a moment, “but the first one didn’t happen until after I found out about you.”

“Oh?” I asked, curious to hear what she’d say.

Rose reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a piece of folded, lined notebook paper. “Your sister sent this to me last week,” she said, handing me the page, “Sonja. She felt like she owed me it.”

I opened up the page and recognized my own handwriting. There were places throughout the page where it looked like drops of water had gotten on it. With a start, I thought to myself, that those were Roza’s tears. I brushed her hair back from her cheek and held her closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“I never had the guts to send this to you,” I told her, handing the letter back.

Rose laughed. “I gathered that.”

“What else did you need to tell me?”

“Even if Ivan and Viktoria hadn’t come to talk to me, as long as I knew you were over eighteen, I probably would’ve caved in the next couple of weeks. I needed you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I have never … _ever _met another man like you, Dimitri. That’s part of why I was hurt so much by your lies. I was convinced that no one could really be as perfect - as ‘made for me’ as you were. Before everyone started to talk to me about you, I thought it had to all be made up. Well, all except for your body.”

“My body?” I asked.

“That night,” she said, “when I had just moved in … I was imagining you. And several nights since then. You turn me on like no one else ever has. Dimitri, you’re the only man I want. I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you. I’ve never _loved _anyone like you. And I haven’t thought of anyone else since the day we met.”

That surprised me. “Not _anyone _else? Even after you found out I was in high school? You know I wouldn’t blame you if you did while we were apart.”

Rose looked away, almost guiltily. “Even after I found out, I still couldn’t help thinking of you, and of your touch; imagining you there with me in my bed at night. After I thought of you like that, I always felt awful about it, but I still kept coming back for more.”

“I haven’t,” I admitted to her. Rose turned her head to give me a questioning glance. “I haven’t had a moment of real pleasure - of any kind - since the night we made love.”

“None at all?” asked Rose. If she was curious and inquisitive before, now she was _intrigued_.

“None,” I told her, kissing the tip of her nose.

“Well,” she said, her eyes twinkling wildly, “We should do something about that.” 

Rose looked to both sides, as if checking that the coast was clear, then tilted her head up to kiss me again. I wrapped both arms around her, one in her hair and one around her waist, and brought my lips to hers. When our lips met and my eyes closed, I felt her hand sliding down along my chest and stopping to rub along the zipper of my pants. I couldn’t help but groan as she gave my hardening shaft a gentle squeeze.

I pulled back again, saying, “Maybe we should go to the car now?”

Rose winked and said, “With pleasure, Comrade.” 

As Rose began to walk away, she took my hand in hers. With a rapt gaze, I watched her stunning hips swaying hypnotically in front of me as she walked.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

As soon as we got to the car, I unlocked Rose’s door and then walked around to the drivers’ seat. I removed my graduation gown and tossed it in the back seat, then sat down and closed my car door. I started the engine and then asked Rose, “Where to?”

“I’ve been living at my parents’ house the past few weeks and I’m not ready to answer Lissa’s questions if we show up at our house. Is there somewhere you can think of where we can go that we could be alone?” Rose replied.

I thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll see what I can do.” I put the car in drive, and then pulled out of the parking lot.

As soon as we were out on the open road, I felt Rose’s small, soft hand tugging the hem of my shirt out of the front of my pants. As soon as my shirt was completely untucked, Rose began unbuttoning my pants and tugging down on the zipper. I groaned when I felt the heat of her hand through my boxer briefs.

“How am I supposed to drive like this, Roza?” I asked her, catching her gaze for a moment.

Rose gave me a playful smile and said, “Now, you know how _I_ felt. Luckily, there’s no shifter on the floor in your grandpa car.”

Rose threaded her fingers into the waistband of my boxers and slipped her hand around my hardened shaft. I took a moment - probably longer than I should’ve, but altogether not very long - to close my eyes in pleasure, feeling her wrap her fingers around me and give a gentle squeeze.

As Rose swirled her thumb around the tip of my shaft, my foot pressed on the accelerator faster. I wouldn’t do anything unsafe, but I couldn’t help but hurry to get us to our destination quicker.

Rose began pumping her hand over my length, up and down, stroking me harder. I made my last left turn, parked the car, and shut off the engine, breathing a sigh of relief that we had arrived safely with my mounting frantic need for the beautiful woman beside me, whose hands were stroking me to a frenzied fever pitch, then turned to her and pulled her close, taking her lips with my own and letting my hand cup her firm, luscious breasts. I had to have her, as soon as I could.

When my fingers made contact with her nipple through the fabric of her dress, I groaned harder, noting that it had become clear that she was not wearing a bra. Her peaks stiffened at my insistent touch and I began pinching, rubbing, and squeezing. As her sexy voice let out a throaty moan of pleasure, I let my head dip down, kissing the soft skin of her neck.

“Dimitri,” she breathed, as her thumb swiped over the head of my cock again. Just hearing her say my name like that, especially when she was doing that with her hand, made me tighten my grasp on her erect nipple. I bit down gently on her earlobe and she let out a gasp of pleasure, then again repeated, “Dimitri...”

I tugged down the elastic-like neckline of her dress, exposing her perfect round breasts, and pulled back to look at them.

“Dimitri,” Rose repeated again, just before I leaned down to let my mouth trail over each of her perfect breasts, “where are we? Are you sure this is private enough?”

“Head of an old hiking trail I used to go to when I was a kid,” I murmured against her skin, my mouth already at her stiff nipple, “No one ever comes here.”

As I gave a tug on her nipple with my lips, Rose let out another pained gasp, this time clasping my head to her breast with her free hand, lacing her fingers through my hair.

“Do you have any protection?” Rose asked, “I wasn’t exactly planning … well, _this _… when I left the house this afternoon.”

I laughed. It’s like Ivan was a fortune-teller, almost like my … _babushka_? I sat back, suddenly recalling all of the things that my grandmother had said, feeling like a ton of bricks had just hit me in the chest. I took my hands and stilled Rose’s soft stroking fingers.

_“She will return to you.”_

_“Today is the day, Dimka … That she will come back.”_

My grandmother _knew_ that it would be _today_.

_“One day, Dimka, a beautiful flower you receive today will become a part of our family”_

She might as well have just come out and said that Rose was going to marry me one day. I wasn’t ready for that yet, but I couldn’t imagine my life with anyone else but Roza.

“What, Dimitri?” Rose asked, “If you don’t have anything, it’s okay. We don’t have to.”

“No, Roza. It’s not that,” I said, looking into her beautiful eyes and placing my hand on her soft cheek, the tips of my fingers mingling into the silky strands of her hair, “This just all feels so fated. Purposeful. And I’ve never been happier.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the condoms Ivan had given me.

“How did you know to carry condoms in your pocket?” Rose asked.

As I answered her with the one word I would give, something clicked and Rose simultaneously said, “Ivan.”

“He gave them to me during the last speech,” I told her, as I unbuttoned my shirt and slid my pants and boxer briefs down to my knees, watching Rose as she kicked off her shoes and slid her panties - black satin, I noticed, with a groan - down off of her legs, letting them fall on the floor of the car. I was especially glad when I had seen her do that, that I always kept my car clean.

I tore open the condom as quickly as I could and unrolled it down my hardness. I could practically feel Rose’s eyes on me as I did it, and when I looked up at her face, her already-dark brown eyes were darkened even more with an unbelievable lust that nearly floored me.

“Roza,” I nearly growled, looking into her exotic eyes. Without a moment to spare, she scrambled across the bench seat of my car and straddled me, her naked and damp heat directly against the condom covering my shaft.

“Do you want this, Dimitri?” she asked me, meeting my gaze again and licking her full bottom lip.

Unable to think clearly - or speak _English _\- I uttered the only word in my head, filling my consciousness. “_Da_.” Yes.

Rose nodded, understanding me perfectly. She gripped my manhood in one hand and positioned me at her entrance. I could already feel the warmth and tightness of her core encircled around my tip. 

My eyes began to slide closed in ecstacy, but Rose took my face in her other hand and said, “No, Dimitri. I want to see the look in your eyes.”

I opened them and nodded at her, mesmerized by her beautiful face. As Rose began to sink slowly down around me, I gripped her thighs with splayed fingers and panted at the heavy sensuality of the moment. I knew as I stared at the wonderment in her eyes that Rose could see the agonizing bliss I was feeling as she wrapped herself deeper and deeper around me. When I was finally buried to the hilt, I told her, “I love you more than my own life, Roza. I always will.” I lacked the courage to say it in English yet, but in Russian, I added, “_Vashe telo chuvstvuyet sebya kak doma dlya menya, kak ni odin dom, kotoryy ya kogda-libo imel. YA boyus' skazat' eto po-angliyski. Kogda-nibud', kogda ya budu gotov, ya poproshu tebya stat' moyey zhenoy. YA proshu, chtoby vash otvet byl da._” _Your body feels like home to me, like no home I've ever had. I'm afraid to say this in English yet. Some day, when I’m ready, I will ask you to be my wife. I’m begging that your answer is yes._

Surprisingly, Rose giggled at that. I had guessed that she must’ve enjoyed hearing me speak to her in Russian.

As I gripped her tighter to me, moving one palm to lay between her shoulder blades and the other to bring her neck to my face so that I could kiss her there, I bucked my hips from underneath her, urging the movement she had been holding back. 

Rose began sliding her hips atop mine, plunging me deeper into her in repeated thrusts, hard and fast. I felt her frenetic movement already starting to topple me over the edge and grasped one of her breasts with a hand, running my tongue across the entire surface of the other. With each thrust, her moans above me got louder and louder, her eyes became more and more excited, and her movements less and less controlled. Knowing that she seemed to enjoy hearing me speak in Russian, I began expressing a slow soliloquy of all of the arousal and excitement that were inside me against her nipples as Rose continued moving her hips in that frenzied pace.

“_YA nikogda ne videl takogo neveroyatnogo tela, kak tvoye. YA nikogda ne chuvstvoval nichego podobnogo tomu, chto chuvstvuyu, kogda nakhozhus' vnutri tebya. Proshlo uzhe neskol'ko nedel' s tekh por, kak ya konchil, i ya ne znayu, kak dolgo ya mogu sderzhivat'sya, poka ne zakonchu v vashem krasivom tele. YA lyublyu tebya vsem serdtsem, i ya by s radost'yu otlozhil vse svoi zhelaniya, prosto chtoby byt' s toboy, sdelat' tebya schastlivym, no yedinstvennoye, chto ya khotel sdelat' s togo momenta, kak uvidel tebya, - eto pochuvstvovat', kak ty obvolakivayesh' menya. Oshchutit' eto udovol'stviye i dat' svoyemu telu udovol'stviye, kotoroye prikhodit s nim. Teper' ya tak blizko, chto yedva mogu eto vynesti. YA sdelayu vse vozmozhnoye, chtoby proderzhat'sya, poka ty ne konchish' pervym, khotya. YA otchayanno khochu, chtoby ty konchil pervym. Vy vsegda dolzhny priyti pervym._” 

_I’ve never seen a body as incredible as yours. I’ve never felt anything like what I feel when I’m inside you. It's been weeks since I've come and I don't know how long I can hold back from finishing inside your beautiful body. I love you with all my heart and I would gladly put all my desires aside just to be with you, to make you happy, but the one thing I've wanted to do since the moment I saw you is feel you wrapped around me. To feel that pleasure and give your body the pleasure that comes with it. I'm getting so close now that I can barely stand it. I'll do my best to hold out until you come first, though. I desperately want you to come first. You should _always _come first._

“_Konchi dlya menya_, Roza.” 

_Come for me_, _Roza_.

At my last words, I felt her core tightening and pulsing, almost like she understood my command to her. Rose yelled out my name as I began to feel her slick muscles milking me hard. Her climax was all it took to push me over the edge with her. I groaned with pleasure as my seed began pumping into that condom inside her. She stayed astride me, continuing to make slow pumping thrusts above me until we had both rode out our climaxes. And the look in her eyes when she came showed an intensity that I’d never seen before on another human being - although I was absolutely sure my eyes mirrored hers.

As our heavy breaths and racing hearts began to calm, Rose looked into my eyes in wonder and kissed me tenderly, cupping my face to hers.

A few moments later, Rose said, “I never doubted earlier this afternoon when you told me everything you did, but if I _ever _had even a small doubt your love was real, I know now that it was, and because of that, I love you even more. I love you so much. But if ready you’re not to tell the things to me in English, probably you should make sure I not first speak Russian. Wife? I not ready to be there yet, neither, but some day, my feelings are like my answer could be yes, Dimitri.” 

Her words of the last couple of sentences sounded so strange, heavily accented and disjointed, with words out of place. It took me a few moments to register that she hadn’t actually said them in English. She had said her last several words in - slightly broken - Russian.

“But how …?” I asked, looking at her in amazement.

Rose gave me that smirk again. Honestly, this woman will be the death of me! “My father lived there for five years before I was born. After Lissa and I came back from Portland, he spent time teaching me languages to help ‘bolster my college applications’. I’m not quite fluent, but I picked up the gist of what you said. My Turkish is better than my Russian, though.”

I kissed her again, letting my tongue tangle with hers, tasting her sweet breath. As my fingers tangled in her hair, I began to feel as though things were intensifying again. Considering it was my graduation day and my family was waiting for me back home, I wasn’t quite sure we should stick around for round two, though, so I drew back.

“Would you like to meet my family, Roza?” I asked her, “I’ve got to get back before too much longer, but I’m not ready to let you go yet. I’m sure that they’d all love to meet you, too.”

Rose gave me that brilliant smile again, giving me one more quick peck on the lips. “I’d love to, Comrade.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you look out there, I put a preview for this chapter on Facebook (page on profile). Fun fact: a few years ago, I had a boss who was well-known for saying, "I don't want any surprises, unless they involve frosting or wrapping paper." It seemed like a great one-liner, so I modified it to fit this story.  
Also, doesn't Rose just seem like the kind of girl who would, given the option, choose a dress with pockets? I know I would certainly prefer to have them!  
Apologies to all those with Russian language speaking abilities if Google translate didn't provide an accurate translation of the massive amounts of Russian in this chapter.  
Sorry for the delay on this chapter. COVID-19 has been giving me about 1/3 of the free time I used to have. Both of the talented and lovely girls who helped me beta the past few chapters have had on-going time conflicts of their own, as well. 
> 
> P.S. For those of you who are reading this on May 4, happy Star Wars Day!


	31. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy   
There may be some mature sexual content ahead  
Special thanks to TheTrebbledMom for beta-reading this chapter

We pulled in to the driveway behind Mama’s car. As Rose and I began walking up to the front porch, Rose asked me, “This is where your whole family lives? You, your mother, and your sisters?”

Instantly, my thoughts turned to shame at the embarrassingly small house that we all lived in. Every instinct in me wanted to hide the truth, but I knew that I couldn’t lie to her ever again. 

I turned to face her as we walked and said, “Actually, Sonja and Karolina’s three children live here, too. And my grandmother.” 

I was surprised to see that Rose’s face was showing neither pity nor disgust that so many of us lived in a run-down house so small. If anything, I would say that she was in awe. 

“Nine people? All in this house?!? Dimitri, you and your family have done so much with so little,” she said, taking my hand as we walked, “I would love you no matter how you grew up, but this only makes me love you more. Thank you for sharing your life - your real life - with me.”

When we got to the door, the wonderful smells of Mama’s cooking came wafting out towards us. 

Rose looked at me and grinned. “I know that smell,” she said. It was stroganoff and black bread.

As soon as I opened the door, we were met by Babushka. “Dimka,” she said to me in Russian, “You’ve finally brought your flower home. Be sure to water it.”

“This is my grandmother,” I told Rose, “Yeva Belikova. Babushka, this is Rose. My … girlfriend?” 

I looked at Rose with a question in my eyes, but she was already focused on Babushka. Rose stretched out her hand to shake Babushka’s, but Babushka just stared at it cryptically. “It’s an honor to meet you, ma’am. Your grandson is an incredible person.”

“Yes, he is. Don’t ever take him for granted. If he weren’t with you, I probably would have pretended not to speak English, but I know that Dimka would certainly tell you right away.” 

What a strange thing to say to her. Stranger how _I _didn’t know that I would tell her right away, but Babushka seemed to. I shrugged it off as we began to walk further into the house, but Babushka added in Russian, “_Ditya zmei mozhet ne byt' zmeyey, no ona mozhet vladet' yego khitrostyami. Roza mozhet vyrasti, chtoby kogda-nibud' stat' chlenom etoy sem'i, no etot den' ne segodnya. YA yey ne doveryayu. Yeshche net._” The child of a snake may not be a snake, but she may possess his tricks. Rose may grow to become a member of this family someday, but that day is not today. I don’t trust her. Not yet.

Rose bristled when Babushka began talking, but then quickly relaxed her posture. I wasn’t sure if her reaction was because Babushka was speaking so cryptically, because she was speaking in Russian, or because of something she had said. Without missing a beat, Rose replied to Babushka, “_Inogda prozvishcha neopravdanny. I inogda ulovki zmey dlya ikh sobstvennogo vyzhivaniya. Odnako ne vse zmei zlyye. Nezavisimo ot togo, eto ne imeyet znacheniya. Tebe ne nuzhno doveryat' mne, potomu chto ya zdes' ne dlya tebya. YA lyublyu Dimitri i ne sobirayus' ukhodit' v blizhaysheye vremya._” Sometimes, nicknames are unwarranted. And sometimes, snakes' tricks are for their own survival. Not all snakes are evil, though. Regardless, it doesn't matter. You don't have to trust me because I'm not here for you. I love Dimitri and I'm not going away anytime soon.

I was in awe that Rose would admit her love for me to my family so readily, especially like this.

“I like her, Dimka,” Babushka told me, breaking into a big smile, “She has backbone. And _fire_. She will make a good Belikova someday.”

Rose just looked at me as I laughed at my grandmother’s antics, puzzled. With a shrug, I told her, “Not everything she says makes sense. But the good news is that she likes you.”

I continued, pulling Rose along by her hand, in to the dining room, where Karolina sat feeding the last of some chunks of cut strawberries and cantaloupe to her one-year-old daughter, Zoya, who was sitting in the high chair. Zoya would take every third strawberry and toss it back at Karo, and was making a funny squashed face as she ate if one of the pieces of fruit must have been particularly sour.

“Muh, muh, muh,” Zoya intoned, holding her hands out to Rose.

Before I could say anything further, Mama and the others all walked into the room. Zoya continued to hold her hands out.

“Dimka,” said Mama, “You didn’t tell me you’d be bringing a guest home with you. Is this Roza?”

Rose looked at me and smiled. I squeezed her hand and said, “Yes. Everyone, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Rose Mazur.”

“Rose,” said Mama, “I’m Olena, Dimitri’s mother. It’s so nice to finally meet you. Dimitri is quite smitten with you. I’m so glad that the two of you were able to work things out.”

Roza squeezed my hand. “I’m glad, too. Dimitri isn’t the only one who is ‘smitten’.”

“Are you by any chance related to someone named Ibrahim Mazur, Rose?” Mama asked, “He used to live near our family in Russia. I know the chances seem small. I wouldn’t ask, but you look so much like him.”

Rose looked surprised. “Actually, Abe is my father,” Rose said, “People who know him don’t usually get to meet me. He’s living just outside of Springfield now. Not far from here, actually. I didn’t know him until I was seventeen, though.”

“It’s such an amazingly small world,” said Mama, “Your father is an interesting man. He demands a high price for his work at times, but he is always fair.”

“He’s a lot to take in,” said Rose, pulling me close to murmur at my ear, “I’ll tell you more about him later.”

Holding a sleeping Katya in her arms, Sonja said, “Actually, Rose and I have already met. Rose, this is my daughter, Katya. If you hadn’t come to my rescue that day, I probably would’ve had her by a very different father _years _ago.”

Rose smiled warmly. “It’s good to see you again, Sonja. I’m glad I could help.”

All eyes turned to Vika.

“Don’t look at me. Rose and I met a week ago,”Viktoria added.

“Muh! Muh, muh!” Zoya yelled, poking her arms out at Rose in an exaggerated motion, “Duh, duh, duh!”

Karolina laughed. “This is Zoya, that’s my son Paul over there in the corner playing video games, and I’m Karolina. I think she likes you,” she said, “Could you help her out of the high chair?”

Rose looked at me uncertainly and whispered, “Dimitri, I’m not good with kids. I haven’t even been around one since I was one.”

“I’ll help you,” I told her, walking with her over to Zoya’s high chair.

Karo said, “There are two handles under the tray. If you push them both in while pulling the tray up, you can lift it off.” 

Karo was smiling. She never trusted anyone but family with her kids. Rose looked nervous, but I couldn’t believe what a monumental step this was for my sister to trust her like this right after meeting her.

Once Roza and I had Zoya’s high chair unbuckled and had lifted the tray, I was about to lift her up, but Zoya lifted her hands to Roza again. “Muh! Duh! Wuh!”

“She wants you to pick her up, Roza,” I told her.

Hesitantly, Rose picked Zoya up and held her. As soon as Zoya was in Roza’s arms, she wrapped her own arms around Roza and leaned her head in close, snuggling in to Roza. 

Collectively, all the other women in the room said, “Aaaawww!” I had to admit, it _was _pretty adorable.

Karolina said, “Welcome to the family, Roza.” 

I couldn’t help but smile.

\--=o0/&\0o=--

**Four years later:**

As I lifted the last of the boxes from the back of the moving truck, I turned towards the house, set the box down in the living room, and searched for Rose. Once I walked inside the kitchen, I saw her leaning against the kitchen counter and chugging a bottle of cold water. In her rush to down the bottle, drops spilled out the sides of her mouth, sluicing down her neck to her white tank top. Rose had been spending a lot of time outside lately and the contrast of the stark white against her tanned skin was absolutely stunning. I watched helplessly as the drops ran to the valley between her breasts, dampening the shirt and rendering it enticingly nearly transparent.

I groaned, thinking, _That’s mine now_. 

As Rose finished the bottle, she pulled back and ran the back of her hand across her damp face.

“You know what this reminds me of, Comrade?” she asked.

I was almost so distracted by her barely-there top that I didn’t catch what she had said at first. Rose waved her left hand in front of her face, showing off that ‘rock star’ engagement ring I had managed to save money for the previous two years to afford for her, and said, “Dimitri?”

I came out of my reverie and smiled. “What does it remind you of, Roza?”

“The day we met. It was even hot like today. Except, that day, only one of us was moving.” Rose smiled wistfully. 

“And Lissa was moving furniture that day, instead of eight and a half months pregnant,” I added.

Just as I had said that, I heard the sound of Lissa and Christian’s car pulling up in the driveway. “Speak of the devil,” Rose said, looking out the kitchen window, “I didn’t even know you’d given them the address.”

I chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “When your fiancée’s very, very pregnant best friend catches you a day before your wedding and tells you that she wants to surprise her with a gift when you get back from your honeymoon, you couldn’t very well tell her about it and have it still be a surprise, now could you?”

“Still with the damn eyebrows?” Rose laughed, tugging on one of her own with a finger. “One of these days, I _will _figure that out.” After a few seconds of pressing and tugging on her face to try to get one eyebrow raised, she let go, muttering, “Oh, fuck it,” then added, “What’s the surprise?”

“She didn’t say,” I told her, with a wink.

“You get away with it this time, Belikov,” Roza said, giving me a wary glance, “But watch yourself.”

Rose and I moved to the front door, watching Lissa, who was to the point where she was more baby than woman right now. Christian had to help her out of the car and she walked up the steps with one arm pressed to her lower spine, as though she was supporting her hips with her lower back. When Lissa and Christian got to the door, I held it open so that they could enter.

“Come in, Liss!” Rose said, enthusiastic to see her best friend after our week-long honeymoon, “It’s so good to see you!” Rose hugged Lissa and then Christian helped Lissa over to the couch.

I sat down on the easy chair on the other side of the living room, pulling Roza into my lap. After an entire week of nothing but each other, I almost couldn’t bear to keep from touching her when we were in the same room. I ran a hand along her outer thigh, anxious to feel her skin. It didn’t matter how much I had seen her naked or touched her before; I always wanted more.

Rose asked, “What brings you here today, Lissa?”

Lissa smiled. “Dimitri? You didn’t tell her?”

“I just said you had a surprise,” I said, “Not the details. I thought I would leave that up to you.”

“Good boy,” Lissa said, with a devious smile. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was going to pat me on the head. “I actually have two surprises. First, let me tell you about the one Dimitri knows. Rose, there’s one major advantage to maternity pants. You know what that is?”

“What’s that, Lissa?” Rose asked.

Pulling out a small gift box and passing it to Christian to hand to Rose, Lissa said simply, “Big pockets.”

Excitedly, Rose began to tug away the wrapping paper and bow. I hadn’t seen exactly what it would look like, but I knew that Lissa had gotten a family heirloom out of storage to give to Rose.

As Rose opened the box, I saw a pink beaded bracelet with a small metal cross studded with diamonds in the box before her. Lissa had told me it was an antique _chotki_ \- a prayer bracelet - that had been in her family for generations.

“Lissa, this has been passed down for generations. It’s got to be worth hundreds of dollars. I can’t accept this. It’s too much,” said Rose.

“Rose, even if you’re not my blood, you will always be my sister. Now that you’ve taken on yet another last name, I want you to know that you will always be a Dragomir to me. And I can’t take it back, because I had it inscribed. Look at the back of the cross.”

As Rose flipped the cross over, I leaned in, trying not to get distracted by the beautiful view of my wife’s flawless breasts down her shirt, and read the inscription, in the tiniest of lettering I had ever seen. 

_Rosemarie Hathaway Mazur Dragomir Belikova_

I kissed the side of Rose’s neck as she smiled at Lissa. “Wow, Liss! Thank you so mu-”

Lissa interrupted, “Up-bup-bup! Don’t thank me yet until you hear our next gift.”

Rose turned to look at me wide-eyed.

“Don’t look at me,” I told her, “I only knew about the first one.”

Lissa took Christian’s hand and smiled at him, then looked at us. “Rose, Christian and I have talked it over and we just feel like, without you in our lives, neither of us would be who we are today, and we wouldn’t be together. The baby is going to be a girl and, if it’s okay with you, we were thinking of giving her a middle name of Rose. We’d also like you and Dimitri to be the baby’s godparents.”

I could see tears glistening in Lissa’s eyes. At first, I thought it was just her pregnancy hormones until Rose got up and hugged Lissa, tears streaming down her own cheek. Christian and I shared an amused look as the girls cooed to each other about how meaningful it was. A few moments later, he shrugged and joined in the hugging. The three of them motioned for me to join, too, so I sat on the coffee table in front of the couch, hoping against hope that it wouldn’t break under my weight, and joined in the group hug.

A few moments later, Christian said, “And for our final gift, we are giving you the thing that all newlywed couples need most.”

“And what’s that?” I asked him.

With a wink, he said, “Privacy. Lissa and I are going to leave now and give you two the time alone that you need. But next week, assuming Liss doesn’t pop, we’ll plan to have you over for dinner. Does that sound good?”

I was ready to say that sounded great, anxious to have time alone with my Roza.

“Depends,” Rose said with narrowed eyes, “What kind of food are we talking about here?”

Lissa said, “I think what you really mean is which one of us is cooking. Don’t worry; Christian is. No pregnancy-brain cooking is in store.”

“I got to try Lissa’s pregnancy baking on a girls’ night we had a week before our wedding. She made chocolate frosted brownies but added salt instead of sugar,” Rose explained, making a face.

Lissa gave Rose a gentle swat on the hip, eyes aghast, saying, “Rose! You promised you’d never tell anyone about that!”

“Oops,” Rose said, covering her lips curled in glee with one hand.

“I found this recipe for a bacon-wrapped meatloaf I’ve been dying to try out,” Christian said, “Although with the way you two eat, I might need to triple the recipe.”

Rose’s mirthful expression turned to annoyance as she scowled at Christian. I could do nothing but smile. No one could get to Rose the way he could. Lissa and Christian were like her extended family and he was the irritating older brother she never had.

“I guess we will see the two of you next week,” I said, trying to diplomatically get them out of the house. My eyes locked on Roza and dipped to the tank top she was wearing, clinging to those amazing breasts. I couldn’t wait any longer to rip that tank top off of my beautiful wife.

After knowing me for even longer than Rose had, Christian could see right through me and began helping Lissa to stand, saying, “We’d better get out of here. We’ll see you next week.”

We said our goodbyes, urging them to visit again later, and they left. Rose waved to their car as they drove away, then the two of us walked back inside the house.

I closed the front door and turned to Rose. She was already in the kitchen again, bent at the waist and rooting through some boxes next to the counter, her beautiful ass pointed straight out at me, granting me an amazing view. Her shorts were so tight that I could see the definition of her beautiful curves, and clearly tell that she was not wearing panties.

I groaned. I was gone. And this utterly bewitching woman was _all mine_.

“Are you hungry, Comrade?” she asked, “Maybe we should have something.”

I came up behind her and licked my lips, gripping her hip with one hand and preparing to move the other to slide along the smooth, silky skin of her thigh. I leaned forward over her and rasped against her neck, “So _very _hungry, _Mrs. Belikova_.”

I gently nipped at her nape as I ran my fingers along her thigh. Roza’s breath hitched. Her skin was so hot that I almost stopped breathing, feeling her exquisite skin on my fingers. I ran my hand up her thigh and let my fingers run along her shorts-covered sex, peppering her neck with kisses and gentle licks.

“How about we take some of this off?” I asked, tugging on the button of her shorts with the other hand. Rose rose up from her bent position over the boxes and ran her hand behind her to trail along my hip towards my thickening shaft, using the other hand to support herself over the kitchen counter.

Rose moaned a low, “Uh-huh,” and gave a slight nod, then tilted her head to give me more access to her neck. As soon as I had her shorts unbuttoned and unzipped, I lifted the hem of her shirt and tugged it up to her neck, exposing her full breasts, then moved my hand back down to cup one of them, letting the pad of my thumb circle her already-engorged nipple. Rose let out a whimper, arching her back to push her full, luscious breast further into my hand, as I pinched it between my fingers.

I took the hand that was caressing the apex of her thighs through her shorts and slid it up to slide inside the shorts where I had unzipped. 

As my fingers caressed the outside of her slit, I could feel just how truly wet she was for me, already running down her thighs. Roza moaned in pleasure, bucking her hips with a total loss of control. Her hand found my cock and she began squeezing me through my shorts and stroking my length. I groaned at the feel of her near-magical hands, so familiar with my body that she could - and _had _before - make me come before she even got my shorts off.

“I want you _now_, Roza,” I told her as my finger circled her clit torturously slow, “I don’t know if I could wait another minute to have you. But first, I want to make you come. And then, once I do, I’m going to have you. On the kitchen counter. On the couch. On the stairs. In the tub. I’m going to have you on every flat surface in this house. I’m going to have you all. night. long.”

Rose began pushing her core desperately into my fingers, riding them, moaning and panting, still goading my hard manhood with that relentless stroking. I couldn’t take anymore. I pulled away from her body and threw her shorts down to her ankles, letting them pool around her feet on the floor. Rose stepped out of her shorts, then I sat on the floor between her feet, positioning myself with my back resting against the counter in front of Rose so that I could lick and kiss her wet heat.

I cupped the muscles of her cheek with one hand, keeping the other one ready to slide inside her when the time was right. As I began to lick and kiss my way up her inner thigh, I glanced up at her body, seeing just how amazing she really was. Her face was so lovely. Her hair was like the finest silk and I desperately wanted to run my fingers through it. Her beautiful breasts were so full and firm, her dusky pink nipples standing at attention and just begging to be sucked. And those eyes. Her hypnotically exotic brown eyes were sparkling, staring right at me, pleading for me to make her come.

_Oh, I will, Roza. I will. Just be patient, my beautiful little wife_.

I slowly traced the length of her opening with my tongue, letting Rose feel the full length of my tongue, teasing her by letting my tongue be everywhere except her most sensitive part. After a few moments, I reclined back a few inches and gently blew on the outside of her folds. Rose let out a startled gasp as the cooling air hit her slickened clit, then I leaned back in and just touched the tip of my tongue to her clit, so softly I could barely feel her there. I flicked my tongue back and forth against her in little whisper-soft licks, knowing how I loved it when she had done the same to the head of my shaft on our honeymoon.

Roza shivered and I could tell I was doing this right. Just the way she deserved. I wanted to have her coming all night long tonight in our new house. Needed to. 

She cried out and I began to slide my finger inside her, back and forth, in and out. My cock practically broke through my shorts to get to her when I heard her needy voice moaning my name, so sweetly, over and over again. I was half-way convinced that the lust-fueled haze of want would kill me this night - that this beautiful woman would be the absolute death of me - but honestly, if that were the case, at least I would die happy.

I added a second finger and began pumping in earnest while my tongue continued to flick fast and furious along her nub. Roza’s moans turned to yells and then to screams. Somewhere in the back of my desire-addled brain, I worried that the new neighbors would hear, but I couldn’t be bothered with that right now. I slowed my tongue and curled my fingers, stroking leisurely again inside her, well aware that I was pressing directly on her sweet spot inside her with my curled fingers.

“Dimitri,” Rose pleaded, a touch of weeping in her voice, near-choking on her desire, “Please. I can’t take anymore.”

“‘Please’ what, Roza?” I asked her, murmuring against her damp flesh, giving her another long lick. I could hear her breath hitch as my tongue rasped against her clit.

“Please.” She paused. “Make me come, Dimitri. Make me come _now_!”

I growled at her subtle shift from begging to demanding, then moved my tongue and fingers in the same frenetic rhythm I had used before. Roza screamed out as I felt and tasted her orgasm on my tongue and fingers.

_God, I love this woman_.

I felt Rose’s knees buckling around my shoulders and quickly hopped up to stand, dropping my shorts in a pile and finally letting my erection out of its cloth cage. Before Rose had a chance to come down from her climax, I had positioned myself at her entrance and was sliding into her from behind, leaning her against the counter. I had her hip gripped in one hand and the other on her breast.

I could still feel the ending of Rose’s climax as I thrust inside her tightness the first time. That tight clutching of her drenched womanhood was almost enough to rob me of my seed, but I gritted my teeth and continued plunging inside her. 

I kissed Rose’s nape and nipped at her earlobe. I groaned as I squeezed the large breast in my hand and teased the pebbled tip with my fingers.

“Roza,” I whispered against her neck, “I love you so much. I’ve never loved anyone else. I love you like I never believed I could. It has always been you. It will always be you. I’ll love you forever. Tell me you’ll love me forever, Roza. Tell me.”

I pulled my length all the way out of her and slammed back in, causing another brutal yell to come from Rose.

“Yes!” she screamed, “Yes, Dimitri!”

I pulled all the way out again and asked her, “‘Yes’ what, Roza?” 

I gave her nipple a pinch and then circled her entrance with the head of my cock, awaiting her answer to slide back inside.

“Yes,” she whimpered.

“‘Yes’ what?” I asked, and let just the tip slide back inside, swirled it around inside her for a moment, and then pulled it back out again.

“Yes, Dimitri. You know I’ll love you forever. Only you. Always you. I’m yours. Always yours.”

I nipped her earlobe again and then whispered against her ear, “That’s _all _I needed to hear.”

I began pounding into her faster than I ever had before, calling on all of the years of physical training I had gone through in high school and college to keep thrusting faster and faster. I felt as if I couldn’t possibly push myself as far into her as I needed to be, as though I couldn’t possibly move fast enough, relentlessly plunging into her again and again. I moved the hand that had been stabilizing her hip to rub circles into her clit as I plunged inside her with all my might. 

I heard Roza begin to scream out my name over and over again before I felt the clenching spasms of her climax squeezing and milking me for all she was worth. It only took a few more thrusts before I was joining her over the edge, calling out her own name in a loud bellow. I pumped into her just a few more times to help us both ride out our climaxes, then kissed her neck and her cheek, wrapped both arms around her, and told her, “I love you so much, Roza Belikova. I’m so glad you’re mine.”

Roza placed one of her arms around mine, squeezing tightly, then said, “I love you, too, Dimitri. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

\--=o0/&\0o=--

** _-THE END-_ **

\--=o0/&\0o=--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s DONE!!! It’s finally DONE! I’m still planning on going back through and editing a final time, but this story is officially finished. From here, I am definitely going to plan to go back and finish Hot for Teacher, BUT, COVID-19 double-the-responsibility life is killing me (including a very unexpected and poorly-timed dead truck this evening) and I may need to take a much-needed month-long vacation from writing after 93 chapters, a year and a half of writing, 7 completed stories, and almost three hundred thousand words of fan-fiction writing. Don’t worry, though: in addition to Hot for Teacher, I also have a good start on my next story, Ride the Lightning, thought out in my mind. You can go to my profile for a LITTLE more information on that one, or head on over to Facebook (page on profile) and I’ll have a little more info than that up by this Friday.


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